PORTUGUESE lorry driver Amandio Dasilva Cordeiro died when his vehicle collided with a bus on a notorious accident black spot at Snowhill, near Calne on Saturday.

Mr Cordeiro, 48, was travelling in the Volvo articulated lorry towards Lyneham with his 44-year-old wife when the tragedy happened at around 11.30pm.

It is believed that he came around the corner on the wrong side of the road and collided with the double decker Stagecoach bus, which was travelling towards Calne on the A3102.

The bus veered off the road into the embankment and the lorry jackknifed blocking the road. The lorry driver was pronounced dead at the scene. His wife was taken to Great Western Hospital in Swindon with minor injuries.

Fire appliances from Calne and Wootton Bassett attended along with an emergency support unit from Chippenham.

The road was closed for nearly 12 hours.

The 52-year-old bus driver and an 18-year-old female passenger were also taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Stagecoach West operation manager Sholto Thomas said the driver and passenger were in shock.

He said: "They were both very shaken up. He was taken to hospital for a check-up and is off work at the moment, but as soon as he is able to, he intends to resume work.

"There was severe damage to the bus and had the passenger been sitting any further forward there could have been more serious injuries."

Mel Wilkins, chairman of Hilmarton Parish Council, said although it was a dangerous stretch of road, on this occasion it appeared the lorry driver was at fault.

"It is a very unfortunate accident. I would certainly like to highlight the dangers of that road but in this incident I cannot justify it," he said.

But the parish council is still campaigning for improvements. Mr Wilkins said they had been told in a letter that a fixed speed camera was going to put up at Snowhill.

He said: "It is a dangerous stretch of road but there are many others across the county, like the A4 coming out of Chippenham which is being highlighted at the moment."

There have been three previous fatal accidents in the Snowhill area in the past two years.

Andrew Nuttall, a 20-year-old serviceman from RAF Lyneham, died after his motorbike was in collision with a van on the road in June this year.

Mr Nuttall, who was driving his silver Triumph Daytona towards Hilmarton, crashed into the front of a Ford Escort van about half a mile north of the Oxford Road roundabout.

He was pronounced dead at the scene. The van driver was uninjured.

In September 2002, Nick Walmsley, 38, a father-of-two from Duncan Street, Calne, died when his black Renault 19 hit a tree at Snowhill.

Mr Walmsley, a self-employed roofer, was returning home having dropped his seven-year-old daughter at her mother's in Malmesbury.

He appeared to lose control of his car at the brow of Snowhill, which is at the end of a wide right hand road bend.

Hilmarton Parish Council and villagers have been campaigning for tighter speed restrictions to slow the traffic down on the road for the last 15 years.

In April 2001, Gavin Gillam, 22, of Poynder Place, Hilmarton, was killed when his Mini careered across the road and crashed into the front of an oncoming bus.

His friend, Matthew Yates, from Chippenham, who was with him in the car, escaped with cuts and bruises.

Police are appealing for witnesses to Saturday night's crash. They are also asking for anyone who saw either of the vehicles on that stretch of road prior to the crash to contact police headquarters in Devizes on (01380) 722341.