London, Nov 8 : Princess Diana’s chauffer Henri Paul’s last minute attempt to avoid a mystery Fiat Uno is likely to have caused the crash that killed both the princess and her boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed.

Accident expert Tony Read, the senior British collision investigator in the case, said that evidence showed that the Princess' Mercedes clipped the rear of the Fiat entering the Pont de l'Alma Tunnel in Paris in the early hours of August 31, 1997.

But he said that it was Paul's "overzealous" steering, which appeared to have led to the fatal crash.

He showed diagrams of tyre tracks recorded at the scene to the jury, explaining that the Mercedes had gone left, then right, then left again before crashing into the 13th pillar of the tunnel at 60-70 miles per hour.

He said a bit of broken lens showed the cars had collided ten metres outside the tunnel entrance, reports The Sun.

He added other factors, including driver impairment through drink or drugs, might have caused the smash ten years ago.

Diana and her lover, Dodi Fayed, were killed, along with the Mercedes driver, Henri Paul, in the Paris crash on 31 August 1997. (ANI)