A petition launched by a broadcaster, writer and adventurer to try and lower the speed limit in a Buckinghamshire village has gained over 9,000 signatures.

Ben Fogle, who is best known for his appearances on the BBC, ITV and Channel 5, took to Instagram in the middle of April to tell his 611,000 followers that he suffered a ‘very, very close call’ when going for a run through Fawley.

The 50-year-old was out exercising with his dog when a delivery driver sped around a blind bend and skidded to a halt a few feet from him.

Following the near-death experience, he is now calling for a change to the speed limit on the country road to drop to 20mph, so that delivery drivers cannot travel at 60mph through his village which sits on the Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire border.

In his social media post, he said: “The only way to move through our village is along the road. We have had multiple near misses.

“Dogs have been run over and horses spooked.

“We have had crashes and cyclist crashes, but this is not enough for Buckinghamshire Council to respect the village's pleas to reduce the speed limit.

“We need as many signatures as we can get before they will act.”

“Please help us before we lose someone in our community.

His pleas on social media have worked, as 9,135 people have signed his petition.

It was first launched on April 12 and will close on May 10.

Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he added: “The problem is there’s a rise of home deliveries now, there’s a lot of delivery drivers who have to hit their targets.

“And they have targets that are built in with a 60-mile-an-hour algorithm.

“So the problem is that these poor delivery drivers, I’m not blaming them, I am not, have to hit their targets or they lose their job.”

He added: “The problem is we use the road as a pavement. It’s my pavement so cars can drive at 60 miles an hour on my pavement.

“I have had so many people getting in touch with me on this and it shouldn’t take a celebrity to try and make a change here I’m hoping I can change what happens in our village but there are so many other people that are experiencing the same.”

To sign the petition, click here.