SPEEDING cars have become a daily concern for residents of a village in St Albans – but at long last something could be done to tackle the problems.

Colney Heath High Street, a 30mph zone, is a notorious black spot for speeding according to resident Linda Palfrey, who returned home from holiday to find her front garden wall demolished.

Linda said her front garden and the road outside was strewn with rubble: “It was not a happy sight to come home to. And this isn’t the first time it’s happened for me or my neighbours – speeding cars often lose control here and it’s very often our walls that suffer.”

The crash occurred at around 2pm, when a black car travelling above the speed limit skidded on the temporary gravel surface of the High Street – which is currently being re-surfaced – and crashed into Linda’s wall, bouncing off it and into her next-door-neighbours’ wall.

District and county councillor Chris Brazier said that he witnessed the accident: “I saw the whole thing – the driver came hurtling around the bend and obviously lost control. The road’s quite slippy at the moment because of the gravel and he was travelling so fast that the car completely obliterated a stretch of wall.”

He added: “It’s been a problem for 20 years at least. Whenever the M25 is clogged, the traffic comes through here and we are constantly plagued by speeding cars.”

Cllr Brazier said that he had been campaigning for speed-reducing measures for years, but requests for vehicle activated signs were denied – apparently because Herts County Council are not convinced of their effectiveness – and a plea for speed cameras was turned down due to lack of available funding.

But Cllr Brazier said at last things seem to be on the up: “The district and county councils are working together to try and tackle the Colney Heath High Street problem, and the latter has agreed to raise the zebra crossings at either end of the road.

“I have also put in a request for cushioned speed bumps, which I hope will be successful.”

A HCC spokesperson added: “We are aware that people in Colney Heath are very concerned and I can confirm that we are going to be introducing safety measures in the High Street area.”