A MOTORCYCLIST believed to be in his 20s died after colliding with a van on a stretch of Wharf Road this afternoon.

Police are appealing for witnesses after they spent hours investigating the scene.

The male driver of the van was uninjured but shaken up.

Wiltshire Air Ambulance landed at a nearby field but, along with rapid responders from the South West Ambulance Service, were unable to revive the man.

A spokesman for South Western Ambulance Service said: “We were called at 2.21pm to a road traffic collision on Wharf Road between a van and a motorcycle.

“We had an officer on the scene with a paramedic in a fast car, but the patient was not conveyed to hospital.

“The air ambulance landed and were carrying out advance life support along with our paramedics, as he was clearly in a bad state straight away.

“The first callers conveyed to us he was not conscious or breathing, and he sadly died at the scene. We closed the incident at 4.17pm.”

PC Jay Clifton, of the Tri-Force specialist operations roads policing team, said: “Police were called at 2.23pm to a road traffic collision on Wharf Road between a van and a motorcycle.

“The motorcyclist, a male in his mid to late 20s, sadly died at the scene. The driver of the van is badly shaken but uninjured.”

The police said road closures were put in place from B4005 junction with Hay Lane to the B4005 junction with Mill Lane while officers investigated the scene of the accident.

Anyone with any information should contact the serious collision investigation team at Wiltshire Police via 101, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, where information can be left anonymously.