A VALENTINE'S card showing the wreckage of a car crash was sent to a young Chingford woman who lost her close friend in a road accident.

The shocking card was part of a road safety campaign launched by the London Safety Camera Partnership group. Copies were sent to 50,000 young people across the capital.

It featured a picture of a rose on its front cover but inside there was a horrific photo of a mangled car and the message: "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill you. I was driving too fast. I really miss you."

The 20-year-old driver, who did not want to be named, told the Guardian she was shocked and disgusted to receive the heartless card just two months after her friend died in a car crash.

She said: "I opened the card and thought 'it's nice to get a Valentines card' but it was a picture of a car crash and it wasn't very nice.

"I was shocked. It upset me because my friend, who was in a car crash recently, died. I thought it was insensitive."

A spokeswoman for the London Safety Partnership group confirmed on Monday that ten other complaints had been received from recipients of cards.

Names were selected from a database received from insurance companies. The spokeswoman said that data protection legislation had not been breached.

She added that the group would not be running the campaign next year.

A statement from Susan Beck, national communications manager for the Safety Camera scheme, failed to include an apology for the distress caused to the Chingford woman.

Ms Beck stated: "The London Safety Camera Partnership has adopted this campaign to help raise awareness to young people who are sadly over represented in casualty statistics each year."

The campaign targeted drivers aged from 17 to 24, and was first launched in eastern England in 2001. It won the Prince Michael Trust International Road Safety award last year.