POLICE in Hampshire are appealing for witnesses following a fatal accident on the A34 in the early hours of Sunday morning.

A 59-year-old man was killed after the white van he was driving was involved in an accident shortly before 4.40am near the A303 Bullington Cross turn-off.

The accident left both the man and his passenger trapped upside down in the van after it ended up on its roof on the central reservation of the busy road.

The man had been driving south along the road in a Leyland Daf LDV when he collided with a signpost just before the Three Maids slip road with the B3420 to Winchester.

The driver, from Llanelli in Wales, died at the scene although a female passenger in her 50s survived the impact and was taken to The Royal Hampshire County Hospital with serious head injuries.

Three appliances from Winchester along with 12 firefighters attended the crash and cut both the deceased driver and the passenger from the vehicle with pneumatic cutting tools. Police sealed off the southbound carriageway for several hours following the crash as a detailed investigation got underway into how the accident happened.

Anyone with any information about the crash or who saw the van prior to the accident is asked to contact PC Nick McKinnon at Winchester Traffic Police on 0845 045 4545.