Driver in Paris tunnel 'had to swerve'
A driver had to swerve to avoid a car travelling slowly into a Paris tunnel seconds before the crash which killed Diana, Princess of Wales, her inquest heard today.
David Laurent was taking his fiancée and her family on a late-night sightseeing tour when they passed through the Pont de l'Alma tunnel on their way to see the Eiffel Tower in the early hours of August 31, 1997.
He described seeing a "light-coloured hatchback", while his girlfriend Nathalie Blanchard recalled seeing a car "something like an Austin Mini or a Fiat Uno" as they drove into the tunnel.
In evidence read out at the British High Court, the jury was told the couple heard the blast of a horn, screeching and a loud crash as they were driving out the other end.
The court was also shown a series of police mugshots of members of the paparazzi taken as part of the investigation into the crash. They included Jacques Langevin, Serge Benhamou, Fabrice Chassery and Romuald Rat.
Statements from Mr Laurent and members of the family said he drove on after hearing the crash, thinking it was not serious.
He told police that he was driving into the Pont de l'Alma tunnel on the Seine embankment when "all of a sudden, at the entrance to the tunnel, I came upon a car that was driving slowly in the right-hand lane. I was taken by surprise but, even so, I had time to pull the steering wheel to the left to avoid it."
He told France's Judicial Police - who were investigating the behaviour of the paparazzi in relation to the crash - that he was doing between 70 and 80km per hour (43 mph to 50mph) while the other car was moving at just 30 to 40km per hour (18mph to 25mph).
Miss Blanchard said she remembered a car doing perhaps 40 to 50km per hour (25mph to 31mph) per hour at the entrance to the underpass while she said her boyfriend had been doing around 80km per hour (50mph).
He drove on and overtook a second car, which he said was doing 50 to 60km per hour (31mph to 37mph) in the tunnel. But as he was leaving the underpass, he heard the sound of hooting for about two seconds, then braking for two to three seconds, followed by a loud crash.
