POST OFFICE WOMAN CLEARED OF HISTORIC FRAUD

A MAN died in a collision on the M1 near Leicester involving two lorries on Friday night, police have confirmed.

In a statement in the early hours of Saturday, police said that a 52-year-old man had been killed.

No other details of his identity have yet been released.

Officers are now appealing for witnesses to the fatal collision, which took place at about 7pm on Friday.

Two lorries are known to have collided in lane three of the southbound side of the motorway, close to Junction 21a at Leicester Forest East.

Emergency services including police, East Midlands Ambulance Service and Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service attended and the motorway was shut by police and

highways officials, leading to long tailbacks, pictured.

Fire crews initially reported one person was trapped in the vehicles, and a short while later a man was pronounced dead at the scene.

No one else was injured in the collision.

Detective Constable John Borlase, from Leicestershire Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “We would like to speak to anyone who has any information about what happened.

“If you were in the area and saw either of the vehicles beforehand or witnessed the collision, please get in touch.

“If you have a dashcam installed in your vehicle and captured what happened we would particularly like to hear from you.

“We would like to thank the public caught up in the closure of the M1 for their patience and understanding as we carry out our investigation and look to reopen the road.”

The M1 was closed southbound at junction 22, leading to big tailbacks in the surrounding areas and trapping a section of traffic on the motorway. The A46 was also closed temporarily at the Groby junction.

He said in incidents such as this, police do their utmost to keep disruption to a minimal but due to the severity of this incident, the road remained closed overnight.

It was eventually reopened to tarffic at 5.10am on Saturday.

Anyone with any information who has not yet spoken to officers is asked to call 101 quoting incident 534 of December 11.