That is so tragic. Thoughts are with the mans family. RIP.

So sad - poor fella. Many condolances to his family. Really wish drivers would slow in these awful conditions.

A terrible thing to happen. So sorry for the family.

I do this sort of work and it's dangerous. RIP

very sad.

Poor man he`s somebodies Son/ Brother/Father God Bless R I P

So sad, especially just before Christmas. This should be a lesson to everyone to take extra care driving in this weather.

Tragic. Awful thing to happen anytime of the year. Thoughts go out to his people.

So so sad. His family must be devastated. RIP

How awful, My thoughts go to his family, RIP

Such a tragic thing to happy just before christmas! People drive way too fast in this weather. RIP x

My Thoughts and prayers are with all the family, god bless. Please everyone be very careful when driving in these conditions.

Sad story. I have to ask, had the police closed the lane down for him?

There are matrix signs in the area; why didn't they close the lane off?

So so tragic the poor guy thoughts to his family - too many drivers do not take enough caution when there are break downs on the motorway and continue to speed even in this terrible weather. Tragic. May he rest in Peace x

RIP, my thoughts are with his family. Particularly tragic at this time of year.

Just a note re lane closures. When you see the red "X" flashing over a lane it means DO NOT TRAVEL ANY FURTHER!!! The number of idiots that ignore these is unbelievable. Please please pay attention they are not lit up for fun they are there to protect Police/Ambulance/Recovery etc etc

Broke down in lorry where M42 starts off M6 and there were only inches to spare as old parts of the motorways only have NARROW HARD SHOULDER and how i admired the bloke who had come to rescue me.No lanes closed as far too busy with traffic.He said you can,t get youngsters to do this job.It looked and was petrifying.My heart goes out to this mans family.On a final note i,d like to stick a few office bound wallers from the Health and Safety on this job to see what real danger is like and stop halting events for the most trivial of reasons

how sad for this poor man doing his job & my condolences to his family

i drove past at 9am and seen the man with the vehicles i moved over as i could see they were close to lane you couldnt see the lines because of the snow on the side of the m.way and there werent any warnings or cones etc, i couldnt believe when i read this this morning.
people drive way to fast in these conditions and need to slow down.
my love and thoughts to the mans family rip x

A multitude of traffic police are always available for census points, taxi checks and MOT spot checks. Why weren't they available to help this poor bloke. Absolute tragedy.

its not th police anymore so you cant blame them....its the civillian so called traffic officers who do nothing but put cones out and sit sleeping in the laybye between chadderton and ashton on the right hand side down the hill every day/night parked nose up on a hill hidden sleeping when they should be working again like the pcso's another labour mistake took the traffic cops off to save money and what do you create a substandard non effective group of wannabes who would never get in the police ever....cant blame the gmp with this one m.e.n

So sad especially at Christmas, however as a retired emergency services employee who regularly attended motorway incidents there are some fundamental questions to be answered here!!! what were the actions of both the Police and Highways Agency staff at this incident?? A thorough risk assessment should have been undertaken before the recovery was allowed, especially due to the inclement weather. If this had been correctly completed this would never had happened. I have over the past few years questioned the competency of these Highways Agency staff working on the motorway network!! Also what makes the situation worse is that their managers back at the controls are becoming increasingly reluctant to now close motorways, unless there is a fatality and then the Police enforce this!! This will continue if issues are not addressed. Act now before more deaths we have had Firefighters killed on the motorway in the Midlands due to incompetent Highways Agency Staff.

unfortunately police have had the motorways taken from them, they respond to incidents then have to hand them over to hato patrols (HIGHWAY AGENCY TRAFFIC OFFICER) they should have been there to block the lane in their big 4X4 with all its flashing lights not the police, i love the way people including papers blame the police for everything, try blaming our fantasic government who have reduced the amount of traffic officers. HATO should have been there to assist this poor guy who was doing his job which is hard enough without the help of the highway officers, thoughts are with the poor guys family and shame on you hato patrols for not assisting

I would just like to say, thank you so much for all your kind words and thoughts for my Dad....It's so nice to see that people care.
R.I.P Dad Your loving Daughter XX

As a recovery technician my thoughts go to dennis's family at this sad time, we have a dangerous job with bad hours and very little thanks.
my question is where were the highways agency here?? they need to be behind every broken down vechile with their emergency beacons on, this slows down traffic as they cannot tell from a distance if its a highways or police vechile, and dont let them say they were streched and didnt have enough patrols, i know how many they have, parked up out of sight.
also lets hope the golf driver (obviously speeding in the conditions) gets life in jail for dangerous driving.