Lord Ahmed tells BBC News ‘I made a mistake’
A PEER who was jailed for sending text messages while driving on the motorway has admitted he “made a mistake”.
Lord Ahmed, 52, was freed by the Court of Appeal last week, 16 days into a 12 week prison sentence.
He was jailed after admitting to sending and receiving a total of five messages while driving on the M1 on Christmas Day 2007.
Speaking to BBC News, Lord Ahmed said he was keen to work with road safety campaigners.
He told BBC News: “As far as the road safety campaigners are concerned I hope to work with them in future because we should have road safety – I made a mistake, people make mistakes.”
He added drivers sending text messages at the wheel was becoming a common problem.
“There are people… I mean this is a busy way of life these days but it was wrong. It is wrong and I’m quite happy to go and campaign to say, ‘Don’t make my mistake’,” he added.
Lord Ahmed from Rotherham was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court on February 25 after admitting dangerous driving.
Ten minutes after sending and receiving his last text message, Lord Ahmed’s Jaguar ploughed into a stationary car in the outside lane of the motorway.
The driver, Martyn Gombar, 28, from Leigh, Greater Manchester, died in the crash.
The judge in the original trial ruled that the texting was not connected to the accident.
