A car which crashed into oncoming traffic, leaving three people dead, had been involved in a collision only five days earlier, police have revealed.

The Subaru Forester was towing a caravan at 60mph when it hit a Ford Mondeo and a Ford Focus on the northbound carriageway of the M40 in Oxfordshire on Monday.

The collision killed the Subaru driver and passenger, both in their 80s, and the Mondeo driver, who has been named as Stuart Richers, a 32-year-old former army engineer from Stockport, Chesire.

It emerged today that the Subaru had been involved in another crash five days earlier in nearby High Wycombe, prompting a police watchdog investigation.

Thames Valley Police made a mandatory referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct in relation to the fatal collision “due to previous police contact”.

A spokesman said: “On 10 October this year in High Wycombe, a report of a damage-only road traffic collision involving the Subaru Forester was made to the Force. The IOPC will now make a decision as to whether they will carry out an investigation.

“The driver and a passenger of the Subaru, both aged in their eighties, died. They are yet to be formally identified at this time.”