INTERPOL has been asked to help inform the family after a French driver died in a head on crash near Marlborough .

Police say they would not be revealing the identity of the French driver who was certified dead at the roadside until her family had been told.

Officers said her Ford Fiesta was on the wrong side of the road when it collided head on with a Saab.

The driver of the Saab and his three passengers, none of whom were named by police, were seriously injured in the collision.

They were taken by ambulance to the Great Western Hospital at Swindon.

Firefighters from Marlborough and Ramsbury had to release the injured Saab occupants who were trapped in the wreckage of their car.

There was also a small fire in the Fiesta after the crash just a few yards from Puthall Farm entrance shortly before midnight.

Police kept the main Marlborough-Hungerford A4 road closed for four hours while they investigated the crash.

Traffic was diverted around the lanes at the Great Bedwyn junction on the Hungerford side of the road closure and at the Stitchcombe turning on the Marlborough side.

Sgt Richard Day of Wiltshire police northern traffic unit at Swindon said: "From the evidence available it would appear that the vehicle (Fiesta) was travelling on the wrong side of the road.

"The collision resulted in the death of the female driver of the Fiesta, a French national.

"Inquiries are being made with Interpol in order to trace the next of kin."

He said the injuries of the four occupants of the Saab were not believed to life threatening.

Police appealed for witnesses either to the crash or who saw the Fiesta being driven along the A4 towards Marlborough at around 11.30pm.

It was believed the French woman had picked up the hire car after flying in to Southampton and was heading to the West to visit relatives or friends.

The A4 between Marlborough and Hungerford has claimed many victims and before the M4 opened in 1969 was regarded as one of the most dangerous roads in the country.

About 20 years ago a family of five was killed at the Bedwyn turning just a mile or so east of Saturday night's accident after their car travelled along the wrong side of the road and caused a head on collision.

A spokesman for the AA Motoring Trust said this kind of accident involving foreign nationals was rare. "But unfortunately when it's dark and you are driving on roads with little traffic it becomes much easier to become confused," he said.

He added most accidents were at junctions because drivers were looking the wrong way.