A LAND Rover driver repeatedly rammed a Honda on Ram Alley, in a shocking incident that has led to calls from a local councillor for people to observe speed limits.

Jake Ham, 20, was driving the 4x4 on false plates, without insurance and while towing another vehicle when he came face-to-face with the Honda on the single-track road near Burbage in May 2019. Ham was passing through Ram Alley when he saw the other vehicle coming towards him.

Both drivers applied their brakes and skidded towards each other. The cars crashed head-on.

Ms Fricker said: “The defendant then reversed the Land Rover a number of times and drove it towards the victim’s car on three occasions, making a connection with it and causing further damage. It appeared to the victim the defendant was trying to manoeuvre his car around the Honda in order to leave the scene.”

He was unable to get the bulky Land Rover Discovery and its trailer load past and fled the scene on foot.

When police arrived they discovered the 4x4 was showing false plates, was registered to a non-existent company based in Faringdon and that Ham, who was 18 at the time, was not insured to drive the car.

The driver of the Honda suffered a bloodied nose and whiplash.

Ham answered no comment to questions put to him in interview.

Tony Bignall, mitigating, asked the judge to bear in mind his client was still a young man. He had had a difficult upbringing, but was now trying to set up his own waste disposal business and employed a friend. He lived with his partner in Lechlade.

Ham, of Butler’s Field, Lechlade, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to dangerous driving, driving without insurance, failing to stop at the scene of an accident and fraudulent use of a licence plate.

He was given six months’ custody suspended for two years, banned from driving for two years and must pass an extended retest if he wishes to drive again. He was also complete 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days, 30 hours at an attendance centre and pay £240 prosecution costs.

Recorder Roger Harris said: “On May 11, 2019, whilst you were driving a Land Rover Discovery you were involved in a head-on collision with a Honda. It is not suggested that collision in itself constituted dangerous driving, but what happened thereafter certainly did.

“Quite inexplicably following the collision you reversed then attempted on a number of occasions to ram the car with which you’d just collided to get past and leave the scene.

“When that was not possible you made off on foot.”

Cllr Stuart Wheeler, who represents Burbage and The Bedwyns, lives on Ram Alley and says speeding and road issues have been a problem since he first moved there in 1994. His wife was at home during the incident, when police cars and a helicopter swarmed the area.

Cllr Wheeler said: “It is essentially a single track road and Speeding definitely is a problem. We only have a handful of houses but we get the scream of brakes and cars ending up in hedges and the like.

“People drive up and down Ram Alley far too fast. It can be a little bit of a rat ran, and in normal times we get quite a bit of traffic. If you’re cutting through to get to the A4, or if you’re going toward Hungerford or coming home that way, it can be quite high.”

Mr Wheeler added that, due to the small number of houses on Ram Alley, it would be unlikely the speed limit could ever be dropped.

He added: “People need to remember it’s a speed limit, not a target. My wife and I drive very cautiously as you never know what might be coming round the corner.”

Ram Alley is thought to be so-called as it was originally a drovers path along the outskirts of Savernake Forest, and is now a small lane.