Portchester resident furious after "drink-driver" smashes into three parked vehicles before apologising - but faces no police action

The shocking incident, captured by witnesses and on CCTV, happened as David Ferre was inside his Leith Avenue house during the afternoon of July 14, with the 63-year-old saying: “It’s lucky someone wasn’t run over and killed.”

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After hearing a loud bang, the taxi-driver went out to inspect and saw his badly damaged Vauxhall Antara shunted half onto the pavement. He then jumped into another car and set about tracking down the Mercedes driver who had careered into his vehicle.

David was pointed in the direction of nearby Newbolt Road where debris was strewn across the road after witnesses said the Mercedes had smashed into an empty van and another car. He was passed the driver’s phone number by a local before speaking to the man. “He rang me back to say sorry and that he had a few drinks and didn’t know what he was doing,” David said.

David then rang the police but was left disappointed by their response. “I told the police what had happened but they weren’t interested and just said, “Sorry we don’t come out for things like that.” I was surprised they didn’t come out for it.

“It was a horrendous crash into my car and then he hit two other vehicles. Shops from Newbolt Road said they had CCTV of what happened and there were bits of the Mercedes along the road. The police had all the information they needed, not that he could have denied it anyway.

“Thankfully there were no more crashes but it’s lucky someone wasn’t run over and killed. It’s lucky no one was inside the vehicles.”

David and his wife’s 10-year-old car - which had 60,000 miles on the clock - was written off by the insurance company which has since given them just over £6,000.

David added: “Our car was damaged all down the side and the back with the back wheel facing the other direction and the chassis snapped. The car was pushed half onto the pavement. The Mercedes car wheel was bent like a banana.”

A police spokesman said: “We were called at 8.23pm on 14 July to a report that a black Mercedes C Class had collided with a parked grey Vauxhall Antara on Leith Avenue but that nobody was injured.

“Whenever a call comes in, our control room will review and risk assess these before a deployment decision is made. They will also need to take into consideration any other ongoing incidents, of which there were 17 Grade 1 and Grade 2 incidents ongoing in that area at the time. Our units needed to be prioritised to attend the incidents that needed an immediate response. This matter has since been filed, as it will be dealt with by insurance companies.”