A FATAL car crash, accusations of racism and traffic chaos blighted this year's Islamic convention in Tilford.

More than 25,000 Ahmadiyya Muslims from across the UK and overseas arrived in the rural village last Friday for the three-day prayer conference - thousands more delegates than organisers had expected.

Roads came to a standstill and the village was gridlocked due to a shortage of parking spaces.

Tragically 47-year-old Nasir Din Amjad, died on his way to the event after his car was involved in a collision with a single-decker bus.

The crash happened at 5-20 pm when Mr Amjad's VW Sharan collided with the bus on Farnham Road, Elstead. The bus driver and one passenger were treated by paramedics for minor injuries.

Speaking on Wednesday, vice chairman of the Ahmadiyya Muslims and event organiser, Dr Masir Chaudhry, said he was "greatly saddened" by the tragic accident.

Dr Chaudhry was also "very concerned" to hear that a sign had been put on the door of The Barley Mow pub, excluding conference delegates.

Two Tilford residents shared Dr Chaudhry's fears that there were racist grounds for the exclusion by pub landlord and Tilford parish councillor, Charles Barton.

One fumed: "There are regulars at the pub who are deeply offended by this," and added: "The landlord is a member of the parish council, which has a member, Mr Sams, who lives at the Islamabad centre.

"This has certainly been interpreted as being a racist issue, especially as the Duke Of Cambridge Pub in Tilford was not barring anyone."

In a letter to The Herald another resident branded the sign as "puerile and racist".

Dr Chaudhry said he could not understand why Mr Barton had reason to erect the sign.

"Muslim people do not drink alcohol and the delegates wouldn't have any reason to go to the pub. We provided all of our own facilities on our site."

Mr Barton, however, said this week that he had not intended to cause offence.

"I made the decision purely on the grounds of the pub's capacity. We are unable to cater for large parties of people. If there had been an event with 30,000 police officers in the village I would have made the same decision. I would like to assure the Ahmadiyya people that this was not a racially motivated decision."

Mr Barton said that in previous years conference delegates had visited the pub, ordering coffee and soft drinks.

In the light of traffic problems, a spokesman for the Ahmadiyyas said discussions will be held about whether an alternative venue should be found for next year's conference, perhaps a university campus.

Surrey Police officers were joined by local members of the Ahmadiyya association directing cars to park in two fields - one bought recently for the purpose and another hired.

"Unfortunately we had not anticipated the large number of people that would be coming here this year," the Ahmadiyya spokesman added.

A police spokesman commented that the event had run "smoothly", in spite of a dispute which broke out at around 5 pm on Saturday and led to the arrest of three delegates.

The three men - a 25-year-old from Maidenhead and two men aged 44 and 24 from Morden - were arrested after being involved in a fight, which the police spokesman believed to be the result of a family feud. The men have been bailed to appear at Guildford Police Station on August 9, where they could face charges of affray.

l Report of the convention, Page 3