A ‘HORRENDOUS’ crash has left a car parts strewn across three South Somerset homes after warnings about speeding drivers fell on deaf ears.

Residents of Donyatt heard an almighty crash shortly before midnight last Thursday (July 30) and found a car had careered off course and into a wall.

Debris from the crash was found in three different people’s properties, with one describing the scene as a ‘mess’ with ‘bits and pieces everywhere’.

Bill Porritt, who found the nearside wheel parked by his garden fence, is a parish councillor who has been fighting for better speed restrictions in the village for years.

He said: “We heard this horrendous bang, bang and a crash.

“It was about five to midnight and the Graeme, the neighbour, called up and said do you know you have a wheel parked by your fence.

“We went out and the whole nearside wheel of the Vauxhall Insignia had come off and landed next to our fence.

“This crash was different to ones we have had in the past because there were two people driving southbound down the carriageway and it happened in front of them.

“The car was coming northbound up the carriageway. They have then come off the road and collided with the nearside wheels part way into the corner.

“It hit the mile post, which is solid rock, and took the top knot bit off it, and that is about a 120 kilo piece that was launched close to 10 metres up the road.”

A chevron sign was knocked over into one person’s garden, while a suspension spring ended up on another woman’s lawn.

Last year, Mr Porritt and his neighbours featured in the News as they campaigned to have speeding restrictions put in.

At the time, Donyatt resident Leanne Trout, said she had seen 17 cars crash into her wall in the space of two and a half years.

This is the same wall that was the scene of last week's incident.

She said: “It is extremely difficult and frightening to cross the road if I wish to take (my children) to the park or cycle path – not only with the speeding traffic but the number of accidents occurring on the bend.

“We believe it has only been luck that no one has been serious injured or killed.”

After this latest crash, Mr Porritt added: “I think it is the accident we all thought was going to happen.

“It was a mess. At the end they wound up right across the northbound carriageway. There were bits and pieces everywhere.

“The bigger picture is that there is a speeding problem in Donyatt.

“Most drivers are doing more than the speed limit. Most aren’t doing excessive amounts, in the 40s with a 30mph speed limit, but there are a number who come through are truly excessive speeds.

“When we used to have a speed indicator device, the record coming down the hill was about 75mph and then coming from Chard it was 113 through the 40mph zone.

“We, the parish council, have been beating our drums. For my money, you need to have something more rigorous like a chicane or a couple of them, but the county council won’t hear that.

“The other one you can do is an average speed camera, which I have heard of in Cornwall but again not in Somerset.”

Police confirmed that Christopher Evans, 33, of Wambrook Place, Chard, was arrested at the scene of the incident.

He was arrested on suspicion of drink driving on July 31 on Donyatt Hill, Ilminster.

Evans has been charged with driving a vehicle without insurance and driving while above the legal drink drive limit.

He is due at Yeovil Magistrates Court on August 30.