A 97-year-old woman has died after a serious collision on the M4 Eastbound between Swindon and Hungerford in the early hours of this morning.

The woman was a front seat passenger of an Audi which hit a Vauxhall Zafira near the Membury Services on the motorway just after 2am.

Three other people sustained serious injuries and were taken to the Great Western Hospital in Swindon and the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

PC 1106 George Rabczak, of Tri-force specialist ops road policing unit in Wiltshire, said: "At approximately 2.05am today (Sunday 26) a Vauxhall Zafira was travelling eastbound towards London along M4 when, for reasons unknown, it left the carriageway on the near side struck the Armco barrier and deflected back into the carriageway coming to rest in the centre lane.

"As the driver of the Zafira exited from the vehicle, he was struck by an Audi A4 travelling eastbound in lane three. Having been struck by the Audi the Zafira driver sustained life changing injuries and was conveyed to John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford.

"The Audi then stuck the offside of the Zafira, the impact caused the Zafira to cross the carriageway and come to a rest on the near side verge. The Audi came to rest against the central reservation."

The driver of the Audi, a 60-year-old man from South East London, sustained extensive life changing injuries and a 59-year-old female rear seat passenger sustained serious injuries. 

Both were taken to the Great Western Hospital in Swindon where their condition is said to be serious but stable.

The section of motorway was closed for six hours while police carried out an investigation and reopened shortly after 9am.

A large numbers of cars were stranded on the motorway in between the two junctions following the closure but these were moved on several hours later.

Police are appealing for any witnesses of the collision to call 101 and ask for information to be passed to PC Rabczak.