FRUSTRATED residents mounted a protest in the street at Ealing Council's bungling attempts to make their road safer and less congested.
Neighbours in Hawtrey Avenue and Laughton and Bengarth roads have campaigned for five years for traffic calming. But when work to install speed humps, 20mph signs, yellow lines and a zebra crossing belatedly began, a litany of mistakes have meant constant disappointments.
Laughton Road resident Monica Smith said she and her neighbours constantly had to write to the engineers in charge to try to make them correct mistakes or include things they had missed out.
Cataloguing the biggest problems, she said: "The speed humps are so small the cars just glide over them. They came and put some more tar on a couple this week but it hasn't made much difference.
"And they put the zebra crossing in the wrong place. It was supposed to be at the Laughton Road entrance of Lime Tree Park but without any consultation it was moved further up the road. Nobody uses it because it is near a corner and you can't see cars coming, it's dangerous.
"It's a nightmare, it can be so congested people can't get out of their driveways."
A Council spokeswoman said: "Safety is of the highest importance. The crossing is now a short distance from the proposed site because an independent road safety audit highlighted some safety issues at the original location.
"Following consultation with residents, traffic humps were recently installed in Hawtrey Avenue. Some of the humps did not meet the required height levels but this has since been corrected."
But Northolt West End councillor Bassam Mahfouz pointed out a similar zebra crossing at the entrance to Oldfield Recreation Ground, nearby in Oldfield Lane North, which does not cause problems.
He added: "Every resident I have spoken to has been, quite rightly, seething in anger with this Laurel and Hardy incompetence. Residents and I have been working developing and getting funding for this crucial traffic calming only to be frustrated at every step with council ineptitude."
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