A Valentine card campaign to scare youngsters into driving safely backfired when one arrived at the home of a young man killed in a crash.

The victim's mother opened the card and burst into tears.

It read "For my Valentine" on the front but inside was the message: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kill you. I was driving too fast."

The text was accompanied by a picture of a crashed car.

The distraught mother from East Sussex, who lost her son last year, complained to Sussex Police who passed it on to the London Safety Camera Partnership (LSCP), which sent out 50,000 cards.

The LSCP is sending a written apology to the mother.

One insider said: "It is absolutely awful and so upsetting for the poor mother."

The campaign was backed by the Sussex Safety Camera Partnership, which raises money from speeding fines to plough back into more cameras and safety measures.

It used the same Valentine card but instead of posting them to drivers aged 17 to 25, left bundles at sixth-form schools, colleges, universities, pubs and clubs for youngsters to pick up.

Richard Andrews, SSCP communications officer, described the blunder by his London colleagues as "incredibly unfortunate".

He said: "We are fully behind the London campaign but we promoted it by leaving the cards for young drivers to pick up."

The LSCP's For My Valentine campaign involved printing 300,000 Valentine cards. It distributed 50,000 direct to young drivers in Kent and Sussex.

Giulietta Galli-Atkinson, whose 16-year-old daughter was killed in a collision in 1998, said: "Campaigns such as this, warning young drivers about the dangers of speeding, are vital in helping to reduce the number of young lives devastated or lost on our roads."

Emma Rogers, SSCP communications manager, said: "This is the first year the Valentine card has been used in Sussex and it has already raised a few eyebrows.

"We recognise the card is powerful and it may upset some people but it has been tested among the target age group and, while they don't like it, they admitted it made them stop and think."