The driver of a foreign goods vehicle involved in a collision on the M4 motorway near Swin-don has died.

Doctors at Princess Margaret Hospital's intensive care unit struggled to save 20-year-old Belgian man Davy Dierckx for six hours.

His parents were at his bedside when he died from multiple injuries at 11.40pm last night.

The accident happened at 5am yesterday morning when Mr Dierckx's HGV struck a Dulux lorry loaded with paint which was parked on the hard shoulder of the westbound carriageway.

The force of the collision then thrust Mr Dierckx's lorry onto the eastbound carriageway, where it was in collision with a Vauxhall Vectra after coming to a stop.

Mr Dierckx was thrown from the cab and paint from the stationary Dulux lorry was spilled across the road.

The crash caused mayhem for motorists driving into Swindon who were forced to find alternative routes between junctions 15 and 14 after the motorway was closed in both directions.

The eastbound carriageway of the M4 was fully open by mid-afternoon yesterday.

But at 6.30pm the westbound side between Junctions 14 and 15 was still closed while the emergency services carried out repairs to the main carriageway, which had to be resurfaced by Highways Agency workers. Police re-opened the road at 9.25pm last night.

Following the M4 smash surrounding roads were yesterday inundated with drivers being diverted by police.

A spate of accidents included:

A two-car collision on the A419 near the Commonhead roundabout at 7.30am. Neither driver was injured but one car overturned and the road was closed until 8.30am.

A lorry leaving the A4361 southbound near Wroughton at 7.59am.

Also on the A4361 at Wroughton a coach broke down near Priors Hill between 8.25am and 9.30am.

On Fleet Street a Premier Prison Services van broke down at 12.20pm, and was not recovered until 2.15pm.

The M4 accident happened between junction 15 at Wroughton and Membury services and there were tailbacks in both directions four miles eastbound and up to ten miles westbound.

On the M4 eastbound traffic could not enter the motorway at junctions 15, 16 or 17 yesterday. Westbound traffic could not enter the motorway at junction 14.

The Vauxhall Vectra driver, a Bristol man aged 41, was released from hospital after treatment for cuts and bruises. The Dulux lorry driver, aged 35 and from Marlborough, was treated for shock and cuts and bruises.