TRIBUTES have been paid 91-year-old Frances Verity who was killed, along with her close friend, in a car crash on a dual carriageway this week.

Frances, of Witfield Close, Purton, was formally identified by Gloucestershire Constabulary on Wednesday.

An inquest was also scheduled to be opened by Gloucestershire Coroner’s Court yesterday, with the body likely to be released to the family for funeral arrangements today.

Frances was a passenger in a red Skoda with her friend Valerie Fitzgerald, 84, of Spaines, Great Bedwyn, near Marlborough, behind the wheel, when they collided with a lorry.

The incident took place on the A417 near Birdlip, Gloucestershire, at 11.35am on Monday. The driver of the lorry was thought to be uninjured. No arrests have been made as a result of the collision.

Meanwhile, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said he would meet the local MPs over the road in the coming weeks.

Frances had lived in Witfield Close, Purton, for more than 35 years and may have been there since the 1960s, according to one neighbour.

She had also been a member of Purton Evening Women’s Institute for longer than records exist, which stretch back for some 20 years.

Frances and her husband, Jim, who died in June 2011 after a battle with cancer, had both been serving members of the Royal Air Force. The former was known to be a member of the Royal British Legion’s Purton branch too.

Susan Matthews, 71, of Pavenhill, the vice-chairman of Purton Parish Council and a friend of Frances,’ said: “She was a lovely lady and she supported lots of village activities. “She belonged to various groups in the village.

“She really, really enjoyed music and she loved the music concerts which went on in the village. “Anything that involved a band in the village, she would come along.”

Helen Dixon who, as correspondence secretary at the WI, knew Frances through the institute said: “Frances was a lovely lady. “She had been at the WI for more than 20 years, with our records only going back that far.

“I’m sure at our next meeting on November 20 we will hold a minute’s silence for her.

“I last saw her on October 31 at a luncheon club meeting in the village. I helped her with her lunch and she seemed well.”

Karen Reynolds, 49, was a neighbour of Frances’ for more than 40 years, as both a a child and n adult in the street.

She said: “She and her husband were always out in the street speaking to us as children. They didn’t have any children of their own.

“She was a great lady.”