The former head of an accident claims group, who gained notoriety when he sacked his 2,500 staff by text message, has died in a car crash in Spain.

Mark Langford, a multi-millionaire who lived life in the fast lane, was a founder of the personal injury insurance company The Accident Group (TAG). He was killed in a road accident near his home in the resort of Marbella last night.

Mr Langford had recently been beset by financial problems, his assets had been frozen, he faced bankruptcy and owed thousands in unpaid tax. He and his wife Deborah were fighting moves by the Department of Trade and Industry to ban them from acting as company directors in future.

TAG, Mr Langford’s Manchester-based firm, collapsed in 2003 with debts of around £100 million. It was liquidated in January 2004 when its employees controversially received no redundancy money. Following the collapse, an employment tribunal condemned senior management for “cynically manipulating” their staff.

Trade unions reacted with anger at the sackings by text, using the incident to press home calls for stronger employment laws in the UK. Ministers subsequently brought in new rights to compel companies to consult staff over major changes affecting their future, to prevent similar cases.

The message asked recipients to call a number at head office, which contained a voice message from administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). It said: “All staff who are being retained will be contacted. If you have not been spoken to, you are therefore being made redundant with immediate effect.”

Although he was blamed for the dismissals, Mr Langford maintained at the time that it was the administrators who were responsible for the insensitive way the information was passed to employees: “I don’t like what has happened. If it had been in my control I would not have done it that way,” he said.

Alec McFadden, a trade union worker who represented the interests of sacked workers in the liquidation of The Accident Group, said Mr Langford’s death was “a sad situation for everyone, and a sad end to the life of a man who did have a damaging effect on the lives of thousands of people.”

“The people I represent had their lives turned upside down by the actions of a company that Mark Langford was in charge of. It was even a struggle to get unemployment benefits for them at first, because the firm had not been paying tax and National Insurance,” he said.

Mr Langford had previously been charged for driving offences. In 2000 he was fined £1,000 and found guilty of dangerous driving when he killed a 73-year-old man, while driving his Ferarri. William Thornley died from multiple injuries after he was flung 15 feet into the air after the collision near the Old Trafford football ground in Manchester.

Mr Langford said the pensioner had stepped out in front of him and there was nothing he could do. A separate accident led to him being banned for 22 months for drink driving

Brought up in Greater Manchester, Mr Langford initially trained as a solicitor in a law firm, although he did not qualify. He started Motorlaw, a claims company, at the age of 27, before launching The Accident Group (TAG) in 1999.

Despite the increasing pressure from legal and financial challenges, Mr Langford lived in a five-bedroom rented villa with a sweeping drive in Marbella’s exclusive Zagaleta estate. He was a regular at the exclusive golf club Real Club de Golf Las Brisas.

Last month, Mr Langford did not attend an appointment at the High Court in London. His solicitor told the court that his client was suffering from depression and was too unwell to face the hearing, the first stage of bankruptcy proceedings.

A Spanish police official confirmed that the accident, in which Mr Langford was driving an Opel Corsa, happened at around 3.30yesterday afternoon. He was taken to Costa del Sol Hospital where he was pronounced dead at around 8.45 pm. There was no alcohol in his system. Police are investigating the cause of the crash.

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