Driver hit woman while undertaking on motorway

A driver has been jailed after his BMW collided with a woman at a hard shoulder, leaving her with life-changing injuries.

Police said Luke Coleman was trying to undertake traffic on the M1 near Redbourn in Hertfordshire when the crash happened in October 2021.

The 34-year-old, of Murrain Drive in Maidstone, Kent, was found guilty after a trial of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

At St Albans Crown Court on Wednesday, he was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.

Hertfordshire Police said the crash happened at about 18:35 GMT on 26 October that year between junctions 10 and nine.

The woman, aged in her 20s, was standing alongside her silver Vauxhall Astra on the hard shoulder when she was hit.

She now had a prosthetic eye, multiple breaks and fractures and mobility issues, detectives said.

Police said Coleman tried to convince the jury that a lorry forced him on to the hard shoulder.

Ch Insp Steve O'Keefe said: "Coleman was solely responsible for this collision having chosen to drive dangerously by undertaking moving traffic and driving on the hard shoulder, putting other road users and himself directly in harm's way."

He was also disqualified from driving for four years and 10 months.

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