An angry driver is trying to recover £550 from Cambridgeshire County Council for damage to the suspension of his vehicles which he claims was caused by humps in a traffic calming scheme in the Eatons, St Neots.

Michael Friend, 73, believes the scheme, which has been in place for many years, was a hazard to traffic rather than an aid to road safety.

Mr Friend, of Beatty Road, said he had made a Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request to the county about accident figures in the traffic calming scheme area, but received a “load of waffle” and did not get the information he asked for.

“I have had two incidents relating to the speed humps which I now want to claim compensation for and a request to have the traffic calming removed,” he said.

“They must have people in the highways department who thought it would be a jolly jape to inflict these monstrous things on the ratepayers of the Eatons for, it would seem, no good reason.”

There had been complaints about the scheme after it was installed.

A county council spokesman said the traffic calming measures would have been installed as a result of community concerns about speeding and that there had been no other complaints.

Mr Friend said: “I have had suspension damaged twice because of these wretched speed humps.”

He said his FOI request was aimed at finding the number of accidents at the traffic calming scheme for the five years before it was installed and for the five years afterwards - information he felt the county must have.

Mr Friend said he did not get the information he wanted, but the response included a form for claiming compensation which he felt was designed to discourage him from completing it.

However, he now wants the county to reimburse him the £553.59 cost of the repairs.

The council spokesman said: “Some traffic calming measures were installed in the Eatons area - Great North Road, Nelson Road, Bushmead Road and Monarch Road - several years ago, one as far back as 1996.

“They would have been put in following local community concerns over speeding and implemented through what would have been the equivalent of our Local Highway Improvement (LHI) initiative back then, so residents, parishes and emergency services would have been consulted.”

The spokesman added: “We haven’t received any other complaints about these speed bumps and they have been built to correct specifications under national guidance.”