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Driver knocked down by peer was over drink limit
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent2 Apr 2009
THE motorist who died when he was hit by Labour peer Lord Ahmed as he stood on a motorway by his crashed car had been drinking, using his mobile and driving at more than 100mph, an inquest heard today.
Slovakian Martyn Gombar, 28, died on Christmas Day 2007 when Lord Ahmed's Jaguar hit him on the M1 southbound near Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
Lord Ahmed admitted dangerous driving after it emerged he had been texting while he was driving, although other court hearings have heard that he had stopped before the fatal collision with Mr Gombar.
Today a coroner heard that he would have died almost instantaneously from multiple injuries.
Mr Gombar was later found to have had a blood alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit for driving.
Pc Neil Morrell, of South Yorkshire Police, told the Sheffield inquest he interviewed Mr Gombar's passenger, Josef Gazi.
Mr Gazi, who was not at the inquest, told him the car crashed into the motorway central reservation as they drove from Huddersfield to a party in Doncaster. He said they went to the hard shoulder after the crash but that Mr Gombar decided to go back to the wrecked car, apparently to get a mobile phone.
Pc Morrell said Mr Gazi claimed that Mr Gombar used his mobile phone while driving faster than 100mph before the crash.
Lord Ahmed was due to give evidence today.
Earlier this year he was jailed for 12 weeks after admitting dangerous driving in relation to the texting earlier in his journey. He was released after serving 17 days when the Court of Appeal decided his prison sentence should be suspended.
The inquest continues.
