A PENSIONER who drove the wrong way up a dual carriageway has died following a head-on collision.

The 75-year-old man from Shrivenham was driving against the flow of traffic on the A417 near Cirencester on Saturday afternoon when he collided with another car.

The driver of the other car, a 52-year-old man from the US who was working in the UK, also died after the collision.

A spokeswoman for Gloucestershire police said: "At approximately 4.40pm on Saturday police and emergency services attended a collision involving a black Mercedes saloon car and a silver Vauxhall Astra car on the A417 north of Cirencester in Dartley.

"Both drivers, a 75-year-old man from Wiltshire and a 52 year-old man from Washington, USA, were declared dead at the scene.

"The road was closed for eight hours while police carried out an examination of the scene.

"It was the Astra being driven by the Wiltshire man that was traveling in the wrong direction.

"We are still investigating the cause of the accident."

The crash was the second time in two months that local drivers have been involved in a wrong-way collision on the busy road.

A Swindon driver and a driver from Stroud collided near the Burford junction of the road on Christmas Day.

Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore is expected to open an inquest into the double fatality at the end of the week.