Motorist hits three Portsmouth cars on school run as furious resident compares driving to Ray Charles

At around 7.45am on Wednesday, May 8, eyewitnesses reported a vehicle hitting the trio of parked cars in Kipling Road, Hilsea/North End, before fleeing the scene. Damage to the vehicles appeared to be minor, with photographs taken at the scene showing scratches on all three cars.

Two were scratched along the side, while a third had significant damage to the wing mirror. The owner of that car, 28-year-old David George, said: "I came downstairs at lunchtime to see the side of my car scratched up and the wing mirror broken.

“There was a note on my windscreen and I thought perhaps the driver had been a good Samaritan. But no, it was just from my neighbour who had been outside when it happened. We have the number plate of the car that hit us all - I suppose the frustrating thing for me is that the damage isn't really sufficient to go claiming on insurance, or going to the police, yet it'll take a fair bit of repair work to fix.

“Every weekday morning and afternoon this street is packed with families going to and from school, and even so the parents come speeding down the road without a care in the world. Unfortunately this parent drove less like Lewis Hamilton and more like Ray Charles."

Ray Charles, who was an award winning jazz and soul musician, is also known for smiling with delight while gleefully driving a Peugeot 306 during a TV advert.

At the start of the school year, Kipling Road and the adjacent Doyle Avenue were set to join the school streets scheme, in a bid to clamp down on congestion. But this plan was scrapped by Portsmouth City Council.

Another neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, added: "The problem is the cars drive too quickly down this road. Even 20mph is too much, you have children crossing the roads and yet the parents come racing through here. It's like they think their child will be top of the class if they mow the others down."