Police find body three weeks after driver crashes through M6 barrier

Missing: Zahid Mirza has not been since January 15, the day his car crashed through a motorway barrier
West Midlands Police
Jamie Bullen7 February 2017

Police have found a body while searching for a missing motorist after his car crashed through a motorway barrier three weeks ago.

The vehicle's owner Zahid Mirza, 40, from Chelmsley Wood, near Solihull, has not been seen by relatives since January 15 when the car was found abandoned on the southbound M6 carriageway between junctions 4A and 5.

The vehicle is believed to have crashed on the stretch of motorway. At the time of the collision no driver could be found.

West Midlands Police said a body was found on inaccessible waste ground next to the M6 following an intensive two-day search.

Temporary Detective Superintendent Tom Chisholm, from Force CID, said: “At the time of the collision in January, a search was made of the immediate area, but there was no trace of the driver.

“Following enquiries, we discovered that Mr Mirza’s family have had no contact with him since then, so specialist officers have been in the area over the past two days carrying out searches.

“Yesterday evening (Sunday) the search team discovered the body of a man in an inaccessible area of waste ground.

“The body has not been formally identified but family liaison officers have notified Mr Mirza’s family and are supporting them.

"We remain keen to speak to anyone who believes they may have information about the collision and ask they call us on 101."

A post mortem will take place in due course to establish the cause of death.

Police said the matter is being referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in