A YOUNG driver was killed in an early-hours road smash as he was chased by police.

Qamar Aslam had left his home in Queen’s Park Road, Blackburn, to go out with friends in the hours before the fatal crash.

A police car had been following him when he lost control of his Renault Clio and ploughed into a telegraph pole and a wall.

The 24-year-old, who is thought not to have been wearing a seatbelt, suffered catastrophic injuries in the impact in Buncer Lane, Blackburn.

Tests showed alcohol and cocaine in Mr Aslam’s system, a coroner’s inquest heard. He had been ‘travelling at an excessive speed’ in the moments before the impact on March 4, 2017.

Mr Aslam, who had been due to turn 25 the following day, died within minutes of the crash.

Police became suspicious when they saw his Renault driving around Blackburn at around 4.30am.

PC Matthew Whitworth told the hearing in Blackburn: “At the time, my vehicle was parked up King Street at the main crossroads waiting to go at the traffic lights.

“While I was there, a Renault Clio came across in front of me and went alongside my near side.

“I looked behind me and it was around 4.30am and there was no vehicle around and I noted its turning patterns and it raised my suspicions."

“My intention was to see the number plate on the car and put it in the police national computer."

PC Whitworth then followed the car from some distance behind until he got to the end of Wensley Road and turned left onto Buncer Lane.

He said: “After coming through the junction, I was approximately 200 yards from the Renault.

“I travelled through the junction with my blue lights on but the driver showed no indication of slowing down.

“So I followed the car down Buncer Lane and I saw it take a left-hand bend and encroach into the opposite carriageway.

“He’d been travelling at an excessive speed of around 50mph.

“I went round the corner and saw bright yellow sparks and headlight beams and the damaged vehicle was in the opposite direction having collided with a wall.”

Mr Aslam was cut free from his vehicle by firefighters.

He was taken to Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital but died the same morning.

Mr Aslam’s family had questioned the police’s actions during the inquest, asking them what had raised suspicions for them to follow him.

They said: “There are numerous reasons why someone could be out at that time, there are people who go to work.

“He may have took another route to avoid the police, it doesn’t mean he had anything to hide.”

Sergeant Lee Westwood, senior investigating officer of the serious collision investigation unit at Greater Manchester Police, defended PC Whitworth’s actions.

“Police officers don’t need any reasonable ground to follow or stop vehicles.” he said.

Leona Carter, a registered medical practitioner and forensic pathologist, said: “He’d not been wearing a seatbelt.

“A blood post-mortem sample showed there was alcohol detected in his blood and cocaine or breakdown products of cocaine.”

“He would have died within minutes due to a fatal injury to the main blood vessel in his body.”

Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen coroner James Newman concluded that Mr Aslam had died as a result of ‘catastrophic and fatal injuries’ caused by a road traffic collision.