Chilling footage shows a learner driver fleeing the scene of a crash that happened after he exceeded the speed limit on the wrong side of the A441 Alvechurch Highway. Khizer Ali was driving his mum’s VW Golf at 59mph on the 40mph speed limit road when he collided head on with a a Vauxhall Meriva carrying Valerie and David Ayres. Valerie, 65, was instantly killed while 70-year-old David suffered life-changing injuries.
The man was then airlifted to hospital due to the severity of his injuries. In dash camera footage, Ali can be seen looking shaken standing at the side of the road in a grey sweatshirt and jogging bottoms before walking away from the scene. Police then tracked him and he was arrested at his home on the same day. West Mercia Police say that the incident happened on April 24 and that the couple had “no chance” of avoiding Ali as his driving was “out of control”.
According to the police, Ali “hit them head on on the wrong side of the A441 Alvechurch Highway at 59mph on the 40mph speed limit road at around 2.30pm.”
Ayres’ car was pushed into the vehicle behind it due to the force of the collision. Ali held a provisional driving license at the time of the crash.
He had been driving his sister’s car but had swapped into his mother’s one which he was not insured to drive. His 20-year-old sister Sanaa Shahzad let Ali drive the car while she attended an eyelash appointment with the pair having swapped cars just moments before.
Dashcam footage shows Ali driving 62mph in a 30mph zone, causing him to have a near miss with another car, went around the A441 Sainsbury’s roundabout twice, ignored the lanes and made his exit at full speed. He then lost control and collided with the couple.
The man pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving as well as other charges. A judge sentenced him to 11 years and three months.
Ali admitted to:
- Causing death by dangerous driving
- Causing serious injury by dangerous driving
- Causing death by driving a vehicle without a licence or insurance
- Aggravated vehicle taking and dangerous driving
- Being the driver of a vehicle who failed to stop after a road accident
- Being the driver of a vehicle involved in a road accident who failed to report that accident
- Using a motor vehicle on a road / public place without third party insurance
- Driving a motor vehicle otherwise than in accordance with a licence
He has also been banned for driving for 12 years and 6 months. It includes “the 7 years and 6 months of his prison term and a further 5 years after that”. When the ban lapses, he will have to complete an extended driving test if he wishes to gain a license.
Meanwhile, his sister admitted two counts of causing or permitting the use of a vehicle without valid insurance or a licence. She had lent the car out before and had also been caught driving dangerously around Redditch. She is due to be sentenced on June 26.
Detective Constable Rose Hughes, lead investigator for this case, said: “While no sentence can ever compensate for the sad loss of life in this case and the life sentence Ali’s actions have imposed on the victim’s family and friends, we hope that the term handed down to him today will go some way to seeing justice done.
“He showed a total disregard for the safety of the public when took the car off his sister that day, driving recklessly and dangerously which is exacerbated by the fact he should never have been behind the wheel of this car as he did not hold a full driving licence.
“We hope this sentence and the tragic outcome will teach a sobering lesson about the reason for speed limits and driving regulations to anyone thinking about ever getting behind the wheel without having passed their test or driving in such a thoughtless and selfish manner putting so many people at risk as he did.
“Ali should never be driving again. Offenders like him have no place on our roads. His sister Shahzad quite rightly bears some of the responsibility for the outcome of this tragedy too. She should never have leant him the car, especially as she knew he was a learner driver with no insurance.”
Valerie’s daughter Lucy described her mum as her “bestfriend” and said that she was the only person that she “would talk to about everything”. Meanwhile, her husband David called her the “life and soul of the party”. He said: “My life has been turned upside down, I can’t express how much I miss Val and wish the whole thing never happened.”