FRESH calls have been made to lower the speed limit outside Savernake Hospital after a man was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving while racing along the A4 London Road.

Savernake Hospital receptionist Jane Thompson, 54, was killed after being hit by driver Alexander May as she walked home in June 2016.

May, 28, from Ramsbury, was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving after his BMW mounted the pavement by London Road and hit Ms Thompson, of the Redhouse area of Swindon, killing her. His co-defendant Jordan Blake, 25, from Ogbourne St George, was found not guilty of the same charge by the jury at Salisbury Crown Court.

May is now serving a sixyear prison sentence for killing Ms Thompson.

He was described by Inspector Frazer Davey, from the police road collision unit, as a “selfish” man who had shown no remorse in court.

Following the tragic crash, residents petitioned to lower the speed limit on London Road from 50mph to 30mph. The petition has had 644 signatures.

Emily Palmer, 19, who lives on London Road, says one death is too many and is calling on the council to lower the speed limit.

She said: “I have spoken to the town council about our petition to make this stretch of road safer and unfortunately they have not been able to assist whilst any court cases have been ongoing, so hopefully we will now be able to work to make these proposed changes.

"This should reignite a discussion on how we can make this stretch of road safer. Hundreds of people have signed the petition in support of making the road past Savernake hospital a 30mph speed limit so I hope that the town council can support us in achieving this goal.

“Some people don’t realise the dangers on the road, because the current speed limit does not fairly reflect them. We have had lots of development since it has been a 50mph zone and now this needs to be looked at and altered appropriately.”

“Reducing the speed limit will not resolve all the issues we are having but it is certainly a start. We should also be looking at whether we need the two lanes merging, and how pedestrians can be better protected, including improved maintenance of the path.”

Concerned residents, who have described the A4 as a “hazardous road,” also want better maintenance of the pathway to improve pedestrian safety and would like to see the two lanes merged to prevent high speed overtaking.

Savernake parish councillor Guy Singleton agreed that lowering the speed limit would improve the safety of the road and confirmed that the debate will be relaunched on Thursday when the Community Area Transport Group meet with the Highways branch of Wiltshire Council.

Mr Singleton, chair of Savernake parish council, said: “We will bring this up again with the highways team, see where we stand and see what else we can do to improve the situation there. People will do the speed limit plus around there. When you come up round the corner there is a bollard there which does cause a potential problem.”

Cllr Stewart Dobson added the CAT Group had waited until the trial ended before discussing plans to conduct a speed watch along the A4 to measure traffic levels.