CONCERNS have been raised by one woman scared by speeding cars on what she calls a “rat run” road through a village near Hereford.

Jane Wiseman woke up to see a car had smashed into her garden wall overnight.

She says villagers have to take their life in their hands to cross the road.

While it’s not known if speed was a factor in the crash in the early hours of New Year’s Day at Holme Lacy, Mrs Wiseman said she regularly sees drivers speeding on the B4399.

“This the problem we have down the road in this village: many people don’t go at 30 miles per hour,” Mrs Wiseman said.

“It’s a rat run, especially at rush hours in the morning and in the evening, and where the house is it’s just an accident waiting to happen.

“There’s one block which almost touched the house and the worrying thing is if there was just a fence there, that would be in our living room.

“We were very fortunate in that respect that the wall is roughly two feet thick and it saved us.”

Broken car parts, including a headlight, were left strewn among the smashed wall.

While Mrs Wiseman accepts the majority of drivers adhere to the speed limit, car tyres can be heard screeching as cars turn the corner near the bridge.

“I’ve been witness to a car overtaking another car doing 30 miles per hour, but the driver overtaking was travelling at least 50 miles per hour,” she added.

“I don’t know exactly, but he was going at a hell of a speed. When we’re upstairs in bed in the early hours you can hear the car tyres screeching around the corner and it’s so scary.

“Sometimes it does make me quite anxious and obviously this happened.

“I have seen people speeding, not doing 30 miles per hour, and sometimes I’ve crossed the road and just had to take my life in my hands and run for it.”