POLICE are investigating after a driver was the third person to be killed on a New Forest road in 14 years.

Part of the main Beaulieu to Buckler’s Hard route was closed for several hours yesterday after a car careered off the carriageway and smashed into a tree.

All three emergency services were called to the scene after a grey Peugeot RCZ, came off the road just after 10am.

Police and paramedics were joined by firefighters amid reports that the driver, a 65-year-old man from Dibden Purlieu, was trapped in the wreckage.

But the motorist, who will not be named until relatives have been told, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The road has seen two other fatal crashes in the past few years.

Charles Wilcox, 21, of Buckler’s Hard, was killed in a similar accident in 2001 after the car in which was he travelling crashed into a tree.

Three years later motorcyclist Paul Hill, 38, of Everton, near Lymington, died when his bike ploughed into a car towing a horsebox.

Patrick Fairweather, vice-chairman of Beaulieu Parish Council, said: “I drive up and down there every day and my feeling is that the road is safe.

“But it’s a long straight road and some drivers go too quickly, although I don’t know what happened in this particular case.”

He added: “We’re very sorry to learn of the latest accident and extend our sympathy to the family and friends of the man who died.”

Another member of the community added: “It’s a dreadful start to the New Year for his relatives.”

The road was closed between its junction with Hatchet Lane and a point just west of Buckler’s Hard while police investigated the tragedy.

But residents and visitors to the Forest were still able to reach Buckler’s Hard – one of the main tourist attractions in the area – by using roads in the Sowley and St Leonard’s area.

Police, who are urging other drivers who used the road yesterday morning to come forward, say they are preparing a file for the coroner and an inquest will be held.

As part of their investigation the car will be examined for any mechanical fault that could have caused or contributed to the crash.