DRIVERS have been left with the hump after three X-shaped speed bumps were installed in a lane they use to access their homes.

Residents in and around The Avenue, Welwyn, funded the work along the privately-owned road due to concerns about speeding.

But a number of people that use the road claim the new humps are scraping the underside of their cars.

Other more conventional speed humps have also been installed, but motorists insist these are also too excessive.

Barry Edwards, of The Crest, said: “It’s ludicrous, they are just too vicious.”

The exhaust on his 18-year-old son’s Vauxhall Corsa has fallen off twice since the new humps were installed a fortnight ago.

Fiona Pruden, of nearby Willow Walk, said: “You are supposed to be able to go over them at 15mph, but you would go into orbit if you went over these at that speed.

“I scrape the bottom of my car every time and when I have two or three children in the car it grates much more. It is quite a horrible noise and I’m worried about what I am doing to the bottom of my car.”

Her neighbour, Peter Stockbridge, is also incensed.

He said: “They are trying to solve a problem which I am not convinced exists, and it’s damaging people’s cars.”

“They believe there are too many cars travelling too quickly but I’ve lived here for over seven years and there has only been two occasions that I’ve thought that someone has been going too fast and ironically both of those people were driving 4x4s, which are not affected by these speed humps.”

All three residents have written letters to The Avenue Road Association, which is responsible for the work.

The association sent out a statement last week which said the humps were a safety measure to combat speeding and increased traffic including HGVs using the road as a rat-run.

But it has promised to recheck the heights and clearances of the humps to ensure that vehicles travelling at the appropriate speed will not be damaged.