A driver in Kingston-upon-Thames is said to have aimed their car at a cyclist in a road rage incident yesterday but missed the intended target and instead crashed into a hair salon, causing extensive damage to the front of the building.

The incident took place yesterday evening at around 6pm on Park Road, around 50 metres from the entrance to Richmond Park. Local resident and road.cc site user Stuart Forrest said that word soon spread around, and he went to look at the aftermath an hour or so after it happened.

He also spoke to an eyewitness, and said: “I'm told that the cyclist and the driver had had an altercation (over what I don't know) and that the cyclist had tried to kick the car.

“The woman's response was completely out of proportion though because she apparently tried to drive at the bike.

“The car went out of control and appears to have completely destroyed the front of a hair salon (not a house as I'd originally said) just after it closed, before bouncing off a van and another car. The car in question is a white Audi Q7, which is local – I've seen it around, it's quite a distinctive car.

He said that there was “no sign of the rider or driver, but plenty of police and two fire engines in attendance.”

He added: “If it's true, I hope they throw an attempted murder charge at the driver. Whatever provocation there was, this was an entirely out of proportion response and she was extremely lucky that nobody was killed.”

Stuart also tweeted pictures of the scene, which show the front of the salon propped up to prevent the building from collapsing.

Aftermath of road rage in Kingston. Woman allegedly drove at rider, missed, ended up in house. @roadcc #cycling pic.twitter.com/vcsfQW5UM2 — Stuart Forrest (@MrStuartForrest) June 7, 2014

Another person who lives locally, Andrea Craig, also tweeted pictures of the aftermath, one of which show the cyclist’s mangled mountain bike.

Unbelievable and thankfully other than the building, the bike, a car and a van the people are ok. pic.twitter.com/KV8oSnWy51 — Andrea Craig (@MrsNoBags) June 7, 2014

The bike is totally mangled and cyclist ok but the car is a rightoff. My fav hairdressers Park Salon is not ok. pic.twitter.com/Vho2Y7Buum — Andrea Craig (@MrsNoBags) June 7, 2014

In a statement emailed to road.cc, the Metropolitan Police said: