Watch: Car driven in the wrong direction on busy British motorway

Three people are dead after a car towing a caravan was driven in the wrong direction on a busy British motorway.

The Subaru Forester, which is believed to have had foreign plates, swerved around traffic as it headed southbound on the northbound carriageway of the M40.

It crashed into two other cars - a Ford Mondeo and a Ford Focus - near Junction 6 in Lewknor, Oxfordshire.

The driver and a passenger in the Forester, believed to be a couple in their 80s, and the driver of the Mondeo, a man in his 30s, died.

Video footage posted on social media shows motorists travelling in the outside lane of the motorway being forced to swerve at high speed to avoid the Subaru.

West Oxfordshire councillor Colin Dingwall witnessed the moments before the crash and told the Oxford Mail: "I've seen a lot of things in my 50 years on the road, but never a caravan coming the wrong way up the M40.

"Luckily I and the cars near me managed to pull into the middle lane and get out of the way.

"He must have been going about 60mph [95km/h]. It was a car with foreign plates pulling a caravan. It didn't look to be slowing down.

"I had about two seconds to react."

Senior investigating officer Sergeant Beth Walton, from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit of Thames Valley Police, said: "We are in the early stages of the investigation, in which sadly three people died, and our thoughts are with their families."

A number of people who witnessed the Forester being driven in the wrong direction described what happened on Twitter.

Liz Hindmarsh posted: "My husband had to swerve into the middle lane otherwise he'd have been hit."

Oliver Hayes wrote: "We also had to swerve, seemed at least 70mph driving head on in our lane at junction 8... did not look accidental.

"Called the police who said they'd had multiple calls by that time. Scary stuff hope no fatalities but looked inevitable the way they were driving."

Dash cam footage moments before it happened. Hope this is useful. pic.twitter.com/oknQWBcZj4

— Alex Varga (@AlexVarga_) October 15, 2018