Anguish of Lord Ahmed after M1 death crash horror

Labour peer Lord Ahmed was in shock last night after a head-on crash in the fast lane of a motorway that left a man dead.

He was driving his gold Jaguar X-type on the M1 on Christmas Day when he smashed into a car that had spun out of control and come to rest facing the wrong way.

Other vehicles following behind him crashed as they tried to take evasive action in the darkness.

A 28-year-old man in the stationary Audi died.

Lord Ahmed escaped with "cuts and bruises", while his wife Sakina, 49, and his mother, who is in her mid 80s, were bruised and shaken up.

"It was absolutely horrendous," said the Muslim peer last night.

"I was driving along the motorway when I saw a red Audi facing the wrong way.

"It was shocking. The other car was in the third lane facing me. There was nothing I could do about it. It was a terrible, terrible thing.

"My wife and mother were in the car. They are OK, but have some slight injuries. I cannot say any more because the police are investigating."

The dead man, thought to be originally from Slovakia, had survived an initial crash when the red Audi A4 car he was driving careered off the central reservation and came to rest in the fast lane.

He and his 30-year-old passenger, both from Leigh in Lancashire, ran across the M1 to the safety of the hard shoulder

But police believe he made the mistake of returning to his car to fetch a mobile phone.

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He was in the Audi when it was hit head-on by Lord Ahmed's Jaguar.

Police said he suffered multiple injuries and was pronounced dead at Rotherham District General Hospital.

Officers are understood to have breath-tested all the drivers involved in the accident as a matter of routine. Lord Ahmed does not drink alcohol.

It is not known how fast the vehicles were travelling.

The accident took place at 6.20pm near junction 35 at Sheffield, around five miles from the peer's house in Rotherham.

Lord Ahmed, who earlier this month helped free British teacher Gillian Gibbons from jail in the Sudan over the naming of a teddy bear, spent Boxing Day at home.

His wife said he was but added: "He is not very well at the moment. He is in shock."

The dead man has not been named.

His passenger, who escaped with slight bruising, was questioned by police after receiving medical treatment.

Two cars following Lord Ahmed's Jaguar were caught up in the chaos.

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A Mini Cooper, driven by a 36-year-old woman from Uxbridge, Middlesex, swerved and hit the central reservation.

A 30-year-old man from Coventry, driving a Fiat Punto, struck debris from the original collision. Both escaped serious injury.

The motorway was closed for several hours in the aftermath of the crash.

Police have appealed for witnesses.