Driver dies after M5 crash

A motorist died after a crash on the M5 in the Black Country. Police are investigating the death which closed Junction 2 at Oldbury for four hours.

Officers were called at 8.15am yesterday after a Ford Ranger car leaving the northbound carriageway of the motorway at Junction 2 travelled along the sliproad to the traffic island and hit a crash barrier on the inside lane before coming to rest at the entry sliproad to the northbound carriageway.

No other vehicles are believed to have been involved.

The Highways Agency closed the roundabout at Junction 2 on the request of the police, reopening it shortly after noon.

The driver, a 33-year-old man, believed to be from the Redditch area, was taken to hospital where he later died.

Any witnesses to the crash, or people who may have seen the vehicle travelling along the motorway before the crash should contact the Central Motorway Police Group on 0121 626 1285.

Meanwhile, a driver who died after his car crashed while being followed by police in Birmingham was named locally as Leon Foster, 23. Floral tributes were left at the crash scene in Erdington.

Mr Foster, believed to be from Kingstanding and to have recently become a father, was freed by firefighters and treated by paramedics, but was pronounced dead in hospital.