Protesters gather on Olivier Close, Salisbury, to campaign to have speed humps installed. Petition organisers Linda Anderson and Kirstin Oxborrow are on the far right. DA4810P2RESIDENTS staged a blockade on the road outside their Bemerton Heath homes on Tuesday afternoon, as part of a campaign to have speed humps installed on the road to stop boy-racers tearing round their estate.

Families living in Olivier Close, Bemerton Heath, are fed up with young people driving round estate roads at speeds approaching 50mph, with engines revving, into the early hours of the morning.

Kirstin Oxborrow, who lives in Olivier Close, said the Olivier Close Tenants' and Residents' Association had contacted Salisbury district council on a number of occasions, but had so far had little help with their predicament.

They decided to highlight the problems by blockading Olivier Close, in the hope that it would persuade councillors to listen to their pleas.

Mrs Oxborrow said: "We have had many incidents recently, with people nearly being knocked over.

"In fact, there have already been two incidents of dogs being hit by cars.

"There are also lots of elderly residents in the close and every time they step out of their front doors, they are putting their lives in danger."

It is not just the elderly residents Mrs Oxborrow is worried about. There are two schools in the area, Pembroke Park First School and Westwood St Thomas, and two play areas in the close.

Mrs Oxborrow said: "We have a triangle of grass on the close, where kids play football, and the Heath is just across the road, so we are really worried about the possibility of a serious accident some time soon."

Speed humps have been installed in Westwood Road, which leads to Olivier Close and Mrs Oxborrow believes there is a similar need for traffic-calming in the close.

There is limited off-road parking in the area and residents fear their parked cars are at risk of being damaged by speeding traffic.

Mrs Oxborrow said she had first-hand experience of the problems two years ago, when her parked car was written off by one of the speeders.

Mrs Oxborrow is disabled and relies on her car.

Graham Wright, of the council's joint transportation team, said: "We have had a couple of issues reported to us in the past about Olivier Close.

"There are very many street residents in Salisbury who apply for traffic-calming measures and they are all competing for limited financial resources.

"Unfortunately, we cannot agree to all applications, but we listen to all those that are brought formally to our attention."

Councillor Dennis Brown, chairman of the transportation committee, said the problems in Olivier Close would be examined to see if any remedial action could be taken, but if there was a need for a traffic scheme it would have to compete against other priority areas for funding.