M40 crash: Driver who towed caravan wrong way on motorway 'involved in accident days before'

Subaru Forester driven wrong way down M40 before three people killed

The car that was involved in a fatal crash when it was driven the wrong way down the M40 motorway was involved in another collision five days earlier, police said.

Three people were killed in the incident, which was captured on another vehicle's dashcam near Watlington, in south Oxfordshire.

Witnesses claimed the Subaru Forester, which was towing the caravan, was driving at up to 60mph along the motorway's northbound carriageway on 15 October.

Thames Valley Police said in a statement that it had received an earlier report about the same vehicle, when it was involved in a damage-only road traffic collision in High Wycombe on 10 October.

Due to "previous police contact" the force has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) in relation to the second, fatal collision.

Five days later the force again received reports about the vehicle, before the car collided with a Ford Mondeo and a Ford Focus, near junction 6 on the motorway.

The driver of the Subaru and the passenger, both in their eighties, both died. They are yet to be formally identified.

Stuart Richards, a 32-year-old from Cheshire who was driving the Ford Mondeo, also died and was identified by police yesterday.

The carriageway was closed as emergency services attended the scene and was re-opened on Tuesday morning.