Barnet's 1000 speed bumps will go

Barnet Council said it will flatten its 1,000 'sleeping policemen' because they are "ineffectual".

Instead it will concentrate on bottlenecks at junctions and making main roads less congested so motorists do not use residential roads as 'rat-runs', Barnet's environment committee chairman, Tory councillor Brian Coleman said.

Speaking to BBC London's 94.9fm, he said: "The problem with traffic bumps are that they are ineffectual, damage vehicles and cause 500 road deaths a year in London.

"They are unpopular with residents - they want them in their own roads but not in others - and are really a waste of money.

People don't just speed down roads because they are rat-runs, sometimes they do it because they just can Transport 2000's Steve Hounsham

"We will make Barnet a hump-free zone."

He added that 20 humps have already been removed and the scheme is not a waste of tax payer's money because they will be flattened at the same time as the current programme to resurface every road in the borough.

But Transport 2000 has described the move as an "extraordinary retrograde step".

Spokesman Steve Hounsham said: "Other local authorities, who have waiting lists measured in years for requests for speed bumps will look at this decision with amazement.

"People don't just speed down roads because they are rat-runs, sometimes they do it because they just can.

"How is this policy going to protect the vulnerable such as pedestrians, children and cyclists?"