A 60-year-old driver died after his car crashed into a telegraph pole and careered into a hedgerow near Horsham.

Khosrow Farzad, of Forrest Road, Colgate, near Horsham, was severely injured yesterday afternoon after his car veered off a bend in his home street.

Mr Farzad was alone and was travelling east towards Pease Pottage when the accident happened about 100 yards from Cottesmore Golf and Country Club.

Emergency services arrived at the scene after receiving a 999 call from a member of the public. Mr Farzad was taken to East Surrey Hospital at Redhill but medics could not save his life.

The impact brought down telephone cables and left his badly damaged Volvo 480 jutting out of the hedgerow.

Telecoms engineers were called out to secure the telegraph pole, which was snapped in half.