A Labour peer involved in a fatal car crash has admitted dangerous driving after sending a long text message while doing 60mph on a motorway.

Lord Ahmed sent the message about two minutes before ploughing into a car that had already crashed on the M1 on Christmas Day. The driver of the other car, Martyn Gombar, 28, was killed instantly.

Ahmed pleaded guilty yesterday to dangerous driving after a police investigation revealed that he had sent and received a string of text messages as he drove on the motorway.

Sheffield Magistrates’ Court was told that Ahmed was driving his Jaguar from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, to his home in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, with his wife and mother. David Scutt, for the prosecution, said that Ahmed exchanged at least five messages with a journalist as he drove from Junction 40 to Junction 35, where the accident happened.

Mr Scutt said that although texting while driving was an offence, the use of the telephone had no bearing on the collision that killed Mr Gombar, a Slovak, from Leigh, Lancashire.

Police carried out a detailed investigation, including plotting the text messages by mobile phone transmitters, the court was told.

Mr Scutt said that the messages were sent as Ahmed drove at about 60mph and the final message was sent one to two miles before the impact.

The peer was knocked out by the impact and suffered facial injuries. When he came round he dialled 999 from the same mobile phone. Mr Scutt said: “The defendant used his mobile phone to send and receive a series of text messages while driving on the motorway along a 17-mile stretch before the accident. It was prolonged and deliberate use.

“But there is no evidence to prove that the defendant’s use of a mobile phone caused the accident.”

The court heard that Mr Gombar’s Audi A4 had collided with the central reservation on the unlit motorway at about 6.20pm, spun the opposite way and was stationary without lights across the middle and outside lanes.

Mr Gombar and a passenger had escaped to the hard shoulder but he then dashed back to retrieve his mobile phone. One driver saw the Audi at the last minute and managed narrowly to avoid a collision, and another clipped the Audi before Ahmed’s car ran into it.

Police accident investigators said that the Audi was not visible to other drivers until they were almost on it.

Steve Smith, in mitigation: said: “As far as the accident is concerned it was not of his making. He accepts that he sent and received text messages whilst driving and that is unacceptable.

“Nothing happened as a result of sending these messages. No one was compromised and no one suffered as a result. No stone was left unturned in this investigation by the police and for that we are grateful. It proves that Lord Ahmed was in no way responsible for the unfortunate death of Mr Gombar.”

District Judge Mark Hadfield adjourned the case for presentence reports and said that he would consider all sentencing options. He ordered that Ahmed be given an interim driving ban.

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