A motorist in China who was driving to visit his mother saw an injured woman lying by the side of a motorway but decided stopping to help would be too much inconvenience.

When the man, named by Chinese media as Mr Zhang, arrived at his mother's house and found that she wasn't home, neighbours told him that she had left early that morning with the intention of meeting him.

A sense of dread crept over the driver as he remembered the elderly woman lying by the side of the road, People's Daily Online reported, and when he returned to the scene of the accident he found his mother covered in blood and dying.

The driver, named in Chinese media as Mr Zhang, drove past an injured woman who turned out to be his mother

He called police but his mother, from Wuhu, in Anhui Province, died on the way to hospital, it was reported.

A neighbour said: 'Mr Zhang is the victim's son. He wells up as soon as he mentions his mother and the accident she was involved in.

'Zhang recalls he set off early in the morning to see his mother who lived in the ancestral village. En route he drove by a hit-and-run scene.'

Mr Zhang told local media that he didn't want to stop for the elderly victim because of the trouble it might cause him.

The scene of the incident in Anhui Province. Police have arrested a local over the hit-and-run

After a spate of incidents in which Good Samaritans have been sued for damages by people they tried to help, many Chinese motorists are now reluctant to help those involved in traffic accidents.

Mr Zhang said: 'I saw a woman lying in the road. When I got to my mother's home and found that she wasn't there I headed straight back to the traffic accident as I had a feeling it might be her. As soon as I got there I could see it was Mum.'