A LOCAL man in his 20’s died in a car crash near Pewsey at the weekend.

He has yet to be officially named but people have taken to Facebook to send condolences to the family of a man they call ‘ Jim Jams’.

The man was a passenger in the car, and he died at the scene.

The man driving and a woman passenger were injured, but not seriously.

Emergency services were called to Alton Road, between Alton Barnes and Wilcot, shortly before 11.30pm on Sunday night following a report that a Peugeot 106 had been involved in a collision.

Police said that for reasons currently unknown, the vehicle appears to have lost control on the road heading from Alton Barnes towards Wilcot village, before crashing to a halt in a hedgerow.

The verge on the long, winding rural route towards Pewsey is deeply grooved where the car left the road.

Parts of the car’s bumper and lights are still visible at the spot, just after the West Stowell turn off, where the car clearly ploughed into the hedge.

Officers from the Collision Investigation Unit attended the scene to carry out enquiries and the road remained closed for several hours.

The driver, also in his 20s was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and drink-driving.

He was taken to Gablecross police station and has since been released under investigation while enquiries continue.

Locals say the road has a reputation for suffering from speeding motorists, with this crash being the latest in a long line of accidents.

Farmers along the beauty spot road through the Pewsey Vale have seen motorists frequently spin off at the spot dubbed Donkey’s Corner, where the stretch of road turns sharply right towards Wilcot.

Last year, a Mini was left upturned in a field and covered in police tape for some days but villagers say accidents happen almost every month.

Publicans Dave and Pat Coupland, at the Golden Swan in Wilcot, say the crossroads coming into the village is also becoming a dangerous speed spot.

“The sat navs don’t seem to recognise that crossroads as a crossroads, so people come tanking through it and into the village,” said Pat.

“We didn’t hear or see anything of this latest accident,” said Dave. “But it does not come as a surprise.

“We call that corner Donkey’s Corner, there are accidents there nearly every month.”

At the weekend, a car was also seen overturned at a spot on nearby Milk Hill towards Marlborough, which has seen several similar crashes this year.

Drivers misjudge the camber of the road and the sharpness of the turn, clipping the verge and resulting in them either flipping cars on their roofs or landing them in a hedgerow.