A DRIVER has died after his car tumbled off the road near a Ridgeway beauty spot.

Emergency services were called at around 8pm on Sunday evening after the Vauxhall Zafira left Dragon Hill Road, near the Uffington White Horse.

The driver, a man in his 40s, careered down a steep bank into a field.

An ambulance, two rapid response paramedic cars and the Thames Valley Air Ambulance were scrambled to the scene, together with firefighters from Stratton fire atation.

However, police said the driver died at the scene. His relatives have been informed.

In a statement, Thames Valley Police said: "The death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious."

The force said they had referred the incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, as the driver had been in contact with police before his death. The IOPC.

The land where the incident occurred is a well-known beauty spot. The Uffington White Horse is believed to date back at least 2,000 years.

A spokeswoman for the National Trust, which owns the land where the crash happened, said: "Our ranger team was alerted at 5.30am on Monday, August 20, to an incident involving a car at White Horse Hill.

"The team have been assisting the emergency services in their work. There is minor impact damage to fencing and grassland and the historic chalk monument of the White Horse is unaffected."