Man, 21, drove wrong way down M65 before crash

Mohammed Zafar has been jailed for two years over the crash

A man who crashed his Audi head-on into a police car after driving the wrong way on a motorway has been jailed.

Mohammad Zafar, 21, earlier pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking over the December 2022 crash.

Lancashire Police said Zafar, of Lammack Road in Blackburn, was driving his Audi SQ5 the wrong way on the M65 while being pursued by police, before exiting at junction 14 in Colne onto a roundabout and crashing into a police car.

He was sentenced in Preston Crown Court this week to two years in jail, and will have to retake his driver’s test before getting his licence back.

Zafar tried to run away after the crash but was arrested on the scene, police said.

An officer in the police car suffered a broken wrist in the crash, while a passenger in Zafar's back seat suffered a broken arm.

PC Lee Pendlebury 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,” he added.