M62 coach bombings: Hundreds of people attend memorial service at Hartshead Moor services

Families, friends and comrades of the victims met for a service to remember the victims. Twelve people died in February 1974 when a coach carrying Army personnel and their families was blown up by the IRA on the motorway. Nine were soldiers. A soldier’s wife and their two children also died.

The event is remembered every year by the regiment and the families involved.

To mark the 50th anniversary there was an extended parade, special memorial service and wreath-laying ceremony at Hartshead Moor Services (Westbound) in the memorial garden. The service was conducted by Terry Brewis of the Royal British Legion Spenborough branch.

He said: “There was a very good turn out by the families. It’s important and it shows that people have not forgotten.”

Albert Walsh, 70, whose brother Leslie, 17, from Manchester, died in the attack, said: “There is not a day goes by without me not thinking about him. I still miss him and I always will. We were best mates. I gave him a lift to Manchester to catch the coach on that fateful day. We will never forget him. We won’t get justice but we will always remember.”

The Oldham Scottish Pipe Band and the band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers played.

Mike McDonald, a retired Lieutenant Colonel with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, helped organise the event.

He added: “The victims are still remembered and always will be. We do this for the families to show we care.”