Anti-drifting speed bumps that cost £50,000 ripped up by vandals after just one week

Speed humps installed on a Peterborough road to stop dangerous and anti-social driving have been ripped up by vandals – less than a week after they were installed.

The work to install the £50,000 bumps in Stapledon Road, Orton, started on June 27, after residents had to put up with noise associated with the anti-social driving. There have also been incidents which have seen people injured as a result of the activities.

But over the weekend, a number of the new traffic calming measures were ripped up by vandals.

Cambridgeshire police are now investigating what happened.

A spokesman for Peterborough City Council said: ““We are aware that the newly installed speed bumps in Stapledon Road have been removed over the weekend. This has been reported to the Police and we await their investigation.

“We shall be reviewing what measures we can take in this area so this doesn’t happen again. The works initially cost £50,000 and a future cost is unknown at this point.”

A spokesman for Cambridgeshire police added: “

We were contacted on Sunday (3 July) with reports of theft on Stapledon Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough.

"A crime has been raised and an investigation is ongoing."

Earlier this year a woman was seriously injured at a drifting event when she was struck by a car.

And in 2016 a man was jailed for 18 months after a number of people were seriously injured when he lost control of his car at a drifting event in the road.

Announcing the works earlier this year, Councillor Marco Cereste, cabinet member for climate change, planning, housing and transport at Peterborough City Council, said: “This is a classic case of ‘you said, we did’. Residents and the wider community have been complaining about the actions of a few who are car drifting in this area. Their concerns around safety and noise , particularly in the evenings, were very valid.

“We are pleased to say that we have allocated funding to deliver a road safety scheme which, alongside additional parking measures, will deter the car drifting from happening. The work is expected to finished at the end of July.”