ROAD bosses have been accused of bungling a much-vaunted £160,000 project to make a Bewdley estate free from "rat runners".

The speed humps built on the Queensway estate are too high, residents and councillors have claimed.

One mum said her children shrieked as she navigated a hump while the effectiveness of the measures - to discourage rush hour motorists from cutting through the estate - have also come under fire.

The leader of Wyre Forest District Council said the homes - on the Wribbenhall side of the river - had suffered "the worst piece of road calming I have ever seen".

Howard Martin said the job - carried out under a Worcestershire County Council program to make walking to school safer - is especially going to prove difficult for emergency vehicles answering 999 calls.

"I dread to think what will happen when the emergency vehicles use the estate - it is a public safety issue," he said.

Drainage would also be a problem, Mr Martin claimed, as the humps are built right up to the curb and do not drop at the side and the centre of the road.

Residents also hit out at the measures, for which work began in September after being in the pipeline for 18 months.

Rosemary Millward, 59, of Wassell Drive said: "They are definitely too high, there is no doubt about that. It is stopping the traffic but it is creating a risk to the public."

Theresa Peltit, 33, who lives on the main Queensway road through the estate said: "We feel they are way too high to drive over, especially if you have an old banger like I have.

"It was horrible, the kids screamed the first time we went over it. I am hoping the humps will be changed, even if they just lower them."

Both district councillors representing the Wribbenhall ward said they had received calls from residents fuming about the work.

Ron White said: "People on the estate are very much in favour of traffic calming but what they are saying is what has been done is far below the expected standards."

Anthony Greenfield said: "It is not what we would expect from the county council.

"It should have started in August and they are now trying to rush it. All in all it is not a very good show."

Queensway resident and Bewdley town councillor Tony Williams said the humps were already failing to deter the dreaded boy racers.

He said: "I have had people calling me up saying it is not slowing the traffic down and youngsters are regarding it as a challenge to see who can jump the highest across them."

A spokesman for Worcestershire County Council insisted the humps were proving unpopular as many of them had not been finished.

He said: "Tarmac is laid in one thick layer over most of the hump area, then allowed to go off for several hours. The edges are not shaped and form a noticeable ramp - this has generated the complaints."

He said the council had received "at most" five calls from the public while the finished product was "absolutely superb".

"The cars have plenty of clearance when going over the humps and it is slowing traffic down," he added.

The drainage system had been carefully considered by engineers, he added, and was satisfactory.

The programme of works - which includes a raised "speed table" at the junction of Queensway on the main Kidderminster Road into Bewdley - has been completed under the Safer Routes to School scheme, for children at Wribbenhall First School in Shaw Hedge Road.