A 23-YEAR-OLD pedestrian was killed in an early morning collision with a car near Verwood on Saturday morning.

The Verwood man died at the scene of the crash, which took place on the B3081 Verwood Road, near to the Somerley Household Waste Recycling Centre, at 5.45am.

The driver of the blue Peugeot 208 involved in the incident, a 29-year-old woman, was uninjured.

Now police have appealed for witnesses to come forward.

The man's family has been informed of his death and the coroner has been notified. A road closure was put in place to allow the emergency services to attend the incident and to allow for an investigation of the scene. 

Police Sergeant Fern Graham, of the traffic unit, said: "Our thoughts are with the family of the young man involved and they are being supported by specially trained officers.

"We are carrying out an investigation into the details of the collision and I am appealing to anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information that can assist our enquiries to contact police.

"I am also keen to hear from any motorists who may have captured the incident on dashcam.

"Finally, I understand the road closures may cause some inconvenience to motorists but I would like to reassure members of the public that they are entirely necessary to allow the emergency services to deal with the incident and establish what happened." 

The road re-opened shortly after 4pm.

A Dorset Police spokesperson said: "We would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding during the road closures."

Anyone with information is asked to call Dorset Police on 101, quoting incident number 25:105 or the free and anonymous Crimestoppers line on 0800 555 111.