M1 death crash driver was on phone to mother

A motorist who killed four members of a family while driving in the wrong direction on the M1 was talking on his hands-free phone at the time.

Mariusz Adamski ploughed into a Jaguar driven by management consultant Lakhdip Nagra minutes after he did a U-turn on the motorway near Luton.

He was killed instantly along with Mr Nagra, his sister Navjit, 28, his mother Inderjit, 48, and her uncle Chain Singh, 66. The family were travelling back to their home in Bexleyheath, Kent, after visiting relatives in Birmingham.

The mother of the Polish driver, Krystina Adamska, said she was talking to her son just before the crash on Saturday night. Speaking from her home in Poland, she said he appeared to have become confused using his satellite navigation system. She said: "He was talking on his hands-free. Then he shouted, Wait mum. My GPS is blank. Oh my God, mum, I can't see anything'. Then I heard the sound of the crash."

Lorry driver Mr Adamski, a father-of-two who moved to Leicester from Poland two years ago, turned his VW Passat around at roadworks near junction 10 of the M1 and headed north on the southbound carriageway. Moments later his car hit Mr Nagra's.

It is thought both cars were travelling at 70mph when the collision happened at 11.22pm. Bedfordshire Police refused to comment on whether Mr Adamski was talking on the phone, saying "the matter is subject to an inquest".