A MAN died and another was left seriously injured after an accident on the M1 near Watford during the early hours of Sunday.

Five people were travelling north in a white Ford Fiesta when it hit the central crash barrier one mile north of Junction 4.

Three back-seat passengers were thrown on to the road after the driver is thought to have lost control of the car. The two men on the road were then hit by a Ford Mondeo and became trapped underneath it.

Firefighters used airbags to lift the car off the two men. Mr Rodney Norton, 23, from Hendon, died at the scene from head injuries and a broken back. The other man, a 22-year-old from Graham Park in London, suffered serious injuries and is being treated in Watford General Hospital.

The driver of the Fiesta, a 19-year-old man from Colindale, suffered minor injuries. The front-seat passenger was a 19-year-old woman from Burnt Oak. The other back-seat passenger was a 17-year-old-girl from London, who suffered minor injuries. The driver of the Mondeo was a 51-year-old man from Hemel Hempstead who had slight injuries but did not need hospital treatment.