A woman has died and a man is seriously ill in hospital after a minor collision at a service station on the A27 near Lewes in East Sussex on Sunday February 7.

Police said minor damage was caused to a blue Toyota Aygo and a silver Renault Kangoo with French registration plates, when the Renault collided with rear of the Toyota, which was stationary.

The two occupants of the Renault were a man and a woman, both aged 74. The woman passenger was found to be dead, and the man who was driving the car was unwell and was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton in a serious condition. Neither had sustained any physical injury in the collision.

The man and woman are married and are British nationals but live in France and had arrived in this country on Sunday morning in their car to visit relatives. The woman’s death is being treated as unexplained. A postmortem will take place this week.

The driver of the Toyota was unhurt and no damage was caused to the Local Fuels service station.

Sergeant Richard Hornsey of the Surrey and Sussex Road Policing Unit said; “We would like to hear from anyone who saw what happened, particularly anyone who saw the Renault Kangoo driving on the eastbound A27 immediately prior to the collision. Please contact collision.appeal@sussex.pnn.police.uk or call 101 quoting Op Bedstone.”