Fiat Car Caused Diana Death Crash

An accident investigation expert has said that evidence showed that that Princess Diana’s Mercedes clipped the rear of a Fiat car before entering the road tunnel where she was killed.

Tony Read, the senior British collision investigator in the case, has told the Diana Inquest that it was Princess Diana's driver Henri Paul's last-minute attempt to avoid a white Fiat Uno that is likely to have led directly to the crash.

He said that it was Henri Paul's "overzealous" steering rather than the "glancing" contact itself which appeared to have led to the fatal crash in the Pont de l'Alma Tunnel in Paris in the early hours of August 31 1997.

But he also said there were other factors he believed played a part including the excessive speed of the vehicle, Mr Paul's intake of drink and drugs and the distraction that may have been caused by the paparazzi's presence.

Showing diagrams of tyre tracks recorded at the scene, he said the Mercedes had gone left, then right, then left again before crashing into the 13th pillar of the tunnel at 60-70 miles per hour.

Debris suggested that the Mercedes clipped the rear of the Fiat about 10 metres outside the entrance to the tunnel - rather than inside, he said.

"It was the presence of the Fiat that required Henri Paul to steer left," he told the court.

"It was probably as a result of an over-reaction, maybe a slightly overzealous application of the left steer that meant that he had to steer to the right in order to avoid the central reservation.

"That in turn meant he had to steer left to avoid a collision with the tunnel wall and that in turn meant that he was unable to control the vehicle and collided with pillar 13."

(BMcC)