A PURTON woman killed after the car she was travelling in collided with a lorry on a dual carriageway has been named locally as Frances Verity.

Frances, 91, of Glevum Close, had not been formally identified by Gloucestershire Constabulary when the Adver went to press, but the news of her death rocked the tight-knit community in the Wiltshire village yesterday.

Frances had been travelling with an 84-year-old woman from Great Bedwyn in Marlborough, in a red Skoda on the A417 near Birdlip, Gloucestershire, when it collided with a lorry at about 11.35am on Monday.

The women were pronounced dead at the scene and the HGV driver was believed to be uninjured.

The accident happened near the junction with the B4070 just eight hours after a 54-year-old man from Cheltenham died on the same stretch of road when his car collided head-on with a lorry.

Frances was a member of the Purton Evening Women’s Institute, and two women who knew her through the organisation, paid short tributes to her yesterday.

Helen Dixon, correspondence secretary at the Purton WI, said Frances was a ‘lovely lady’.

Stella Grimes, treasurer at the organisation, said: “I didn’t know her that well, she wasn’t an especially close friend, but she had been a member of the institute for a number of years.”

A spokesman for Gloucestershire Police said: “We can confirm that the two women who died following a collision on the A417 yesterday morning were an 84-year-old woman from Great Bedwyn in Marlborough and a 91-year-old woman from Purton in Wiltshire.

“Formal identification has yet to take place.”

Roads near the incident were closed for eight hours and a review of safety on the road has been encouraged by Gloucestershire councillors.

The county councillor for Bourton and Northleach, Paul Hodgkinson, told the Gloucestershire Echo: “It is extremely sad to hear about the deaths, and my condolences go to their families and all concerned.

“I have referred to it before as the road to hell and I really think it is. We have three problems.

“The high record number of crashes on the road, as underlined by the crashes, is the first. The second is noise and air pollution and the third is traffic congestion.

“It is a triple whammy. We need to look at it urgently and put a stop to it, especially after what happened.”