Two Ipswich men who were involved in a road rage incident which resulted in a collision on the outskirts of the town have been convicted of dangerous driving.

Before Ipswich Crown Court were Derek Parker, 70, of Sandpiper Road, Ipswich, and Aziz Pekal, 34, of Tacket Street, Ipswich, who had both denied the charge and were convicted after a three-day trial.

They were each fined £500 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs and a £50 victim surcharge.

They were also each banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to take an extended retest.

The incident, which took place at the Copdock Interchange, started after a Mazda people carrier driven by Pekal allegedly “cut up” a Vauxhall Astra driven by Parker.

“This incident started when Mr Pekal suddenly pulled out of his lane in front of Mr Parker’s car and cut-up Mr Parker,” said Matthew Sorel-Cameron, prosecuting.

“The two cars were now both in the same lane and having been cut up by Mr Pekal, Mr Parker undercut Mr Pekal and got in front of him. Mr Pekal then did the same to him.”

A police officer who witnessed the incident, which took place at 4pm on October 26, 2016, described both drivers as driving aggressively and felt that a collision between the two cars was “inevitable”.

At one stage while the cars were side by side they had “swiped” into each other and the Mazda driven by Mr Pekal ended up squashed against the central reservation crash barrier by Parker’s Astra, said Mr Sorel-Cameron.

“It was a short lived incident of road rage during which they both drove aggressively,” he claimed.

He said at the time of the collision Mr Pekal had his wife who was five months pregnant and his 16-month-old daughter in his car, while Mr Parker’s wife was a passenger in his car.

When police officers spoke to the defendants after the incident Parker said he and Pekal were both to blame for what had happened and said it was “six of one half a dozen of the other”, while Pekal placed the blame on Parker.