FLORAL tributes have been left for a 53-year-old woman who died after a car crash in West Oxfordshire.

The woman, from Finstock, was driving a black Vauxhall Astra which was in a collision with a red Volkswagen Golf on the B4022 less than a mile south of Charlbury.

The accident happened at the brow of a gentle hill at 5.43pm on Saturday.

Fire crews from Chipping Norton, Charlbury and Kidlington used hydraulic lifting equipment to cut both drivers free from the wreckage, but the woman died at the John Radcliffe Hospital at 9pm.

The driver of the Volkswagen, a 34-year-old man from Berinsfield, was taken to Banbury’s Horton Hospital, where police yesterday said he was expected to undergo surgery.

His injuries are not believed to be life threatening and his condition was described as stable.

After the crash the road was closed and buses were diverted as fire officers carried out the rescue operation.

It was the second fatal accident on the road this year.

Motorcyclist Robert Smith, 46, of Hailey, was killed in April when his motorbike and an Audi A4 collided near the Crawley junction just half a mile from his home And in April 2007, Witney motorcyclist Lawrence Gunter was killed in a collision outside Hilltop Garden Centre, Ramsden, on the same road.

Yesterday friends of the crash victim, who has not yet been formally identified by police, left a bunch of red roses and a bouquet of flowers at the scene of the crash.

Oxfordshire County Council is currently consulting about whether to reduce the speed limit on the stretch of road from 60mph to 50mph.

Keith Puddiefoot, landlord of The Crown, Finstock, said there were often accidents on the B4022, and that speeding was common.

He said: “People always drive through the village faster than the speed limit and then carry on.

“I’ve left the pub at night and the road has been clear, but as soon as you’ve pulled out there is another car right up behind you. They come through here at quite a rate.”

Anyone who witnessed the crash or has any other information should contact PC Robert Abletts on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.