Brand cancels gig after mum’s horror hit-and-run smash
Comic’s mother ‘trapped’ in wrecked limo
COMEDIAN Russell Brand was forced to cancel an Aberdeen show after his mother was injured in a hit-and-run crash.
Barbara Brand, 71, was on her way to babysit for her son when the chauffeur-driven Audi she was in crashed head-on into another car.
She was taken to hospital on Thursday, bleeding from the nose and the back of her head.
According to reports, the chauffeur of the black Audi was ‘screaming in pain’ after the crash, which happened on a lane in Brentwood, Essex.
His Majesty’s Theatre said Brand’s Aberdeen show on Thursday night was cancelled because of a ‘personal emergency’, and promised fans it would be rescheduled.
A witness said he saw a black Vauxhall Astra plough into the Audi, adding: ‘Russell’s mum’s car was driving in front of my partner. Another car came round the bend on the righthand side of the road.
‘He lost control, hit the kerb and went onto the other side of the road where he hit the Audi.
‘The driver got out of the Audi and fell down on the road. Russell’s mum was trapped inside. People got her out.’
The witness said Brand’s mother was in pain and onlookers got her out and lay her on the ground. There was blood on the back of her head,’ he said.
‘The other driver got out of the passenger door as he was trapped. He staggered around. All the cars were queuing up behind him.
‘About two cars behind him in a white Golf were some people who got out and grabbed him. They got him out of the Astra and sped off. They ran over, looked around and grabbed him and did a U-turn in their car.
‘The Astra car was a hire car, the police officer told me.’
He added: ‘Russell’s mum was lying on the floor shaking. She wasn’t really talking.
‘The chauffeur said he was on his way to take her over to Russell’s to babysit.
‘The chauffeur was in a bad state, he was in real pain with his back and legs.’
A spokesman for Essex Police said: ‘We were contacted shortly after 11.40am on Thursday, April 26, with reports of a road traffic collision involving an Audi A8 and a Vauxhall Astra in Mascalls Lane, Warley.
‘The driver and passenger in the Audi, a man aged in his forties and a woman aged in her seventies, were taken to hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening.
‘The occupant of the Astra had left the scene before emergency services arrived and enquiries are ongoing to locate them.’
Brand, 42, is married to Laura Gallacher, 30, the sister of sports presenter Kirsty and daughter of Scots golfer Bernard Gallacher. The couple’s daughter, Mabel, was born in 2016.
‘She was lying on the floor shaking’