FOUR decades after they were installed, speed restrictions in Blackbird Leys are still giving drivers the hump.

The speed bumps in Watlington Road, opposite the Bullnose Morris pub, are celebrating their 40th birthday this year, and are thought to be among the oldest in Britain.

They were constructed in 1975.

Blackbird Leys Parish Council chairman Gordon Roper said: “They were first put down to try to calm the traffic, not just joyriders, but to stop cars from stopping.

“There were also big ones put in outside the community centre to stop people speeding.

“At that particular time, calming measures were wanted.”

But in 2007, the parish council asked for them to be flattened, after reports that they were too high and damaging cars.

Concerns had also been raised about problems for fire engines and ambulances travelling at high speeds down Watlington Road.

The request was refused by Oxfordshire County Council, but according to Mr Roper, the speed bumps are as much of a headache as ever, and not very effective.

He said: “People speed no matter what.

“My view is, if you went over them at 35 miles per hour, you would sail straight over them.

“I should like to see them removed, but it’s about if residents want them. They have been there 40 years and people still moan about them.”

The bumps run from the Bullnose Morris along Pegasus Road to the junction with Blackbird Leys Road.

According to the Department for Transport, the very first speed bumps were installed in Cuddesdon Way in November 1975, as an initial 12-month experiment.

They were improved in the 1990s after a spate of joyriding, but have not been altered since.

Jason Sturch, manager of the Bullnose Morris, said: “Emergency services use the road outside the pub as a cut-through, and not necessarily just to Blackbird Leys.

“Ambulances in particular come through, and I imagine it would affect them.

“Does it slow people down? No. People using Pegasus Road avoid them at all costs.”

The maximum speed in Pegasus Road is 20mph, but resident Shannon Pitson-Barber said she believed drivers were not sticking to the rules.

She said: “Cars pretty much speed along and don’t really care.

“They may as well be taken away.”