MOTORISTS travelling to Wiltshire experienced severe delays after a coach ferrying holidaymakers back to Bristol overturned on the M4 causing 20 miles of tailbacks.

The coach was pulling out of Reading services, between junctions 11 and 12, on Saturday afternoon when it was in collision with a Fiat convertible, careered off the motorway and plunged down an embankment.

Police closed the outside westbound carriageway of the M4 while emergency services, including an air ambulance and seven ambulances attended the scene. Motorists travelling west slowed down to look at the crash adding to the congestion.

AA spokeswoman, Alison Birkett, said: "The motorway didn't completely reopen until 9pm on Saturday night and during the worst period there was a 20 mile tailback."

Five of the 38 mostly elderly passengers on the Shearings coach were seriously hurt, while dozens more suffered cuts and bruises. Seven remain in a serious but stable condition in hospital.

The coach had collected holidaymakers from Dover earlier in the day and was bound for Severn View services near Bristol.

Acting inspector Andy Kings-Welton of Thames Valley Police added: "We have been very lucky that we have not had any fatalities and hopefully we will not do. Nevertheless it is a very serious collision.

"You are always horrified by such an accident because the outcome could have been so much worse."

"Many arterial routes around the scene were clogged up and it was a case of stop-start for long periods.

"The crash caused misery for those who had taken advantage of the good weather to get away for the day."