Car which Princess Diana died in was ‘dangerous write-off that flipped ten times in earlier crash’
THE car in which Princess Diana died was a dangerous insurance write-off that flipped ten times in an earlier crash, it was claimed last night.
The Mercedes was left unroadworthy to the point it lost control over 40mph, a chauffeur who had driven it told French TV.
The Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed died in a 60mph crash in a Paris tunnel on August 31, 1997.
A British inquest blamed paparazzi photographers chasing the car and driver Henri Paul, who was speeding and over the drink-driving limit.
The Mercedes S-280 was previously owned by a marketing executive who told French journalists it was written off by his insurance company, a TV documentary claims.
He said it had been stolen from him and crashed by joyriders and his insurers thought it was only fit for scrap.
But the scrap merchant reconditioned it and sold it to a hire firm that supplied cars to the Ritz Hotel where Diana and Dodi were staying, the documentary on TV station M6 claimed.
The former Ritz chauffeur claimed the car was barely driveable and not safe above 30mph.
The inquest ruled in 2008 that the death was the result of unlawful killing.
Previously, inquiries by both British and French police found the crash was an accident.