A man who died in a crash on the M5 on Wednesday was 32-years-old from Kettering, Northamptonshire.

His next of kin and the coroner have been informed.

He was driving a 2001 model three-door silver Vauxhall Corsa with the registration number VE51 FOT, which was discovered down an embankment just south of junction 10 at 5.30am on Thursday.

Officers attended and the driver was declared dead at the scene by paramedics.

The M5 remained closed for serveral hours on Thursday.

A spokesman for Gloucestershire police said: "Our roads policing team has carried out further enquiries and determined that he travelled south on the M5 motorway from Bromsgrove at 10.40pm on Wednesday (7 August) and we estimate the collision happened approximately half a mile south of junction 10, Cheltenham, between 11pm and 11.15pm.

"Due to the extent of the damage caused by the impact the cars’ battery was disconnected and all electrics in the car stopped working immediately, including the car's headlights, which meant that they would have gone out and made it very hard to see the car from the main carriageway.

"We would like to thank the lorry driver who reported seeing the car shortly before 5.30am in the undergrowth next to the hard-shoulder and giving our control room the location of where he had seen the car, which enabled all three emergency services to attend the scene.

"We are still appealing for anyone who travelled the M5 from the M42 at junction 4a and the Bromsgrove area and who may have dash-cam or in-car video footage during the relevant times to contact us and to submit any footage to us at: 101@gloucestershire.police.uk - quoting incident 72 of 8 August.

"Several people have called us already and we hope that, with the additional information about the car, other road users will now be able to review their footage and make contact with us.

"Our officers are continuing other enquiries to locate other motorists on the road around the time of the incident and we are doing everything we can to find out what happened on behalf of the family."