Audi driver, 21, jailed for crash with police car after driving the wrong way on the M65

A 21-year-old driver who crashed a huge 4x4 into a police car after travelling the wrong way on a motorway has been jailed.

Mohammed Zafar had driven an Audi SQ5 the wrong way along the M65 before leaving the motorway at junction 14 at Colne. The 4x4 cars can cost more than £60,000 brand new this year.

Zafar’s Audi went the wrong way on the roundabout leaving the motorway and collided head on with a liveried police car. There were two officers in the police car, one of who suffered a broken wrist in the collision, the other suffering neck and back pain as a result. A backseat passenger in Zafar’s car suffered a broken arm.

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The Audi had been seen driving erratically in the Blackburn area on the evening of December 4, 2022. Officers requested the car to stop but it failed to do so and after a brief pursuit, the Audi was lost.

However, the Audi was seen again at 10.34pm in Nelson and a second chase began. The Audi travelled on to the M65 at junction 12, travelling eastbound on the westbound carriageway.

It was when exiting the M65 that it collided with the police car on the roundabout. Zafar ran from the Audi and was chased and arrested. Traces of his saliva were found on the driver’s airbag.

At Preston Crown Court on Tuesday, October 15, Zafar, 21, of Lammack Road, Blackburn, was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking. Zafar was disqualified from driving for four years.

PC Lee Pendlebury of Lancashire Police's Road Crime Team, said: “This was a dangerous and disgraceful piece of driving which put other road users at grave risk and resulted in two police officers being injured.

“The car was driven on the wrong side of the motorway for a considerable distance and collided with the police car when travelling the wrong way on a roundabout.”