A SPEEDING driver has caused thousands of pounds worth of damage after smashing into an anti-speeding campaigner's home.

Dave Edmondson, the head of a community speedwatch initiative in Tonge Fold, was woken up at 1.20am on Tuesday morning by a loud bang, as the car smashed through his garden wall on Ainsworth Lane.

The car caused around £15,000 worth of damage to the garden wall, a newly laid driveway, and to one of the family cars.

Mr Edmondson said: "When I looked out the window I had to do a double take, the wall was gone and there's a car through it.

"My six-year-old daughter was up half the night because we've all hardly slept, and she's gone to her first day of school really upset.

"It's just so annoying, I've been saying for the last three years that something needs to be done about speeding on this road and now my family has been left picking up the pieces.

"No one's listened to me – I said it was only a matter of time until something happened on this road and I've been proved right which is just a horrible feeling to have right now."

Mr Edmondson has been campaigning for new measures to tackle the dangerous speeding seen on Ainsworth Lane – a road with a 20mph speed limit.

Even after the crash, he's spotted cars travelling at over twice the speed limit, with one driver hitting 43mph.

Although his campaign received backing from local MPs and authorities in the area, no action has been taken, and the frustrated dad is desperate for something to change.

He added: "I just feel let down, it's not just him that does it, hundreds of people speed up and down this road every day.

"He's very lucky there was nobody about because he could have easily killed someone.

"If it'd happened at a different time our kids could have been in the garden, or if we were pottering about or someone was walking past it could have ended very differently.

"Something needs to be done now before someone dies."

Tonge Fold Community Speedwatch was started two year's ago, after Mr Edmondson, who is also the chairman of Tonge Fold Neighbourhood Watch, asked residents what they were most concerned about.

Community Speedwatch is a national scheme that lets communities monitor speeding in their area using hand-held cameras.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: "At around 1.20am on Tuesday September 8, police were called to reports of a collision on Ainsworth Lane, Bolton.
"Officers attended and established that a vehicle had collided with a wall. No injuries were reported.

"A 28-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of breaching Section 5 of the Road Traffic Act. He has since been released under investigation." 

Section 5 of the Road Traffic Act (1988) relates to the offence of driving whilst under the influence of alcohol.