An MP escaped death by inches after a lorry’s wheel crashed into his car on the M1.

Pudsey MP Stuart Andrew walked away unharmed from the smash but was told by police if the impact had been just a fraction closer to the cabin he could have been killed or seriously injured.

Mr Andrew said: “I was in the outside lane heading south and I saw something bouncing in the opposite carriageway. It was about 40 feet in the air. I realised it was a lorry wheel heading in my direction.

“The only thing I could do was almost pull into the crash barrier on the central reservation – by doing that it hit what would have been the passenger side rather than the roof and me.

“I was braking and crashing along the side of the central reservation for a few metres before I came to a halt.”