Crash investigator Pc Jim Lawrence and call handler Karen Gould received commendations from the chief constable.

Pc Lawrence was honoured for pursuing tests that kept a driver out of jail after a crash on the M1 in October 2003 in which a motorcyclist died.

Karen Gould, from Ellistown, was commended for the way she dealt with a caller who was threatening to blow up his Loughborough home.

Ms Gould kept the man on the phone for 90 minutes while the street was evacuated and trained negotiators were brought in.

'Brakes failed'

Pc Lawrence is credited with keeping a man out of jail after initial tests disproved the van driver's claims that his brakes had failed just before the fatal crash on the M1.

He said the driver could easily have ended up behind bars.

"The driver probably would have pleaded guilty when at least two, possibly three people looked at the vehicle before I got involved, and they kept telling him: 'Sorry nobody could find anything wrong with the vehicle, it must be you or your driving or whatever'," he said.