Devizes mother and son Betty and Peter Couch are recovering after a head-on crash with a car being driven on the wrong side of the road by a French motorist.

It happened on the A345 at Clench Common, near Marlborough, just before 4pm on Friday as 60-year-old Peter and his mother, 82, were on their way to Wroughton in his classic Toyota MR2 sports car, which collided with a Renault Clio.

A passing motorist released Mr Couch, but Mrs Couch, of Eastleigh Close, Devizes, was trapped, and firefighters from Marlborough, Pewsey and Swindon had cut off the doors and roof to release her.

Dr Jonathan Glover, a Marlborough GP and a member of the SWIFT medical emergency team, was just behind them and and treated the couple as well the Clio driver and two passengers. A man in the Renault was airlifted to the Great Western Hospital, Swindon, by the Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

Mr Couch and his mother went there by ambulance. He had extensive bruising and was discharged that evening.

His mother had a broken sternum, two broken fingers, broken bones in the back of a hand and severe bruising. She also has a chest infection.

Mr Couch, a retired MoD employee of Parkfield, Devizes, said his mother was stable and in reasonable spirits despite her pain.

Describing the crash he said: “We came round a relatively sharp bend and the Clio came straight at us. The impact was like driving into a brick wall.

“We were just driving around in the MR2 when I suggested we go over to Wroughton to look at the cricket pitch to see if the heavy rain had affected it so we could let Jonathan (his son) know what the pitch was like.”

Renault Clio driver Benjamin Binos, 29, of Clamant, France, pleaded guilty to careless driving when he appeared before magistrates in Chippenham, on Saturday. He was fined £130.