A MAN died after his car and a 30-tonne lorry collided and burst into flames on the M4 motorway in one of three weekend accidents.

Police believe the dead man's Vauxhall Calibra car may have hit the back of the dairy lorry in the crash, which happened on the eastbound carriageway of the M4 near the Membury services, just before 4am on yesterday morning.

The impact set fire to both vehicles, and firefighters from Westlea, Stratton St. Margaret, Wootton Bassett and Ramsbury all rushed to tackle the blaze.

They managed to cut the driver, who police believe was a 26-year-old man from Uxbridge, West London, from his car, but he was certified dead at the scene.

The flames left both vehicles gutted, but the driver of the lorry, a 55-year-old man from Patchway in Bristol, escaped with shock and minor whiplash injuries.

The accident closed the eastbound carriageway between Swindon and Hungerford until shortly before 1pm yesterday.

Meanwhile, a woman pensioner was seriously injured on the B4696 near Ashton Keynes just before 5.30pm on Saturday evening, when a Citroen Saxo driven by a woman from Wootton Bassett was in collision with a car containing an elderly couple.

The woman passenger in the pensioners' car was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital with serious injuries, although her condition was not believed to be life threatening.

In the third accident, the driver of a Renault Laguna was airlifted to hospital in Salisbury with serious head injuries, after losing control of his car on the A338 south of Marlborough, and colliding with a Mercedes sprinter van. Swindon Traffic Police have appealed for witnesses to the M4 crash to contact them on Swindon 891318.

The accident, which happened shortly after 7.30pm on Saturday near Collingbourne Kingston, closed the road for several hours while the Laguna driver was cut from the wreckage of his car and accident investigators examined the scene.

The driver of the Sprinter van was taken by road to Princess Margaret Hospital, suffering from broken ribs.