A LEGAL executive's fury over the proliferation of sleeping policemen and traffic islands may lead to a judicial review of the Government's traffic-calming measures.

Tony Burton, 47, claims that motorists should be entitled to use highways uncluttered by what he regards as dangerous obstacles. Instead, he says, those in urban areas are having to weave a course marked out by shaded no-go areas and punctuated every few yards by suspension-creaking concrete bumps.

The final straw for Mr Burton was when the rear skirt of his Ford Escort RS1600i was torn away as he drove over a sleeping policeman "at between 10mph and 15mph".

He commissioned an inspection report from a bodyshop and submitted the £160 repair bill to his local council in Tameside, Greater Manchester. If the council officials refuse to pay it he will take them to county court, and depending on the outcome of the proceedings may seek a judicial review of the regulations.

Mr Burton, of Denton, Greater Manchester, claims to have the support of 120 similarly-disgruntled motorists who responded to an advertisement he placed in Max magazine. He said: "This country has become completely obsessed with so-called traffic-calming measures. It's madness.

"Everywhere you go local authorities are squandering taxpayers' money on sets of completely useless obstacles. They claim they save lives, but that is a complete load of rubbish because four-wheel-drive vehicles can go over sleeping policemen at 70mph."

"I have made approaches to the Highways Agency and the Department of Transport, asking for compensation. But they say it's not their problem. I now intend to seek a judicial review to establish that the Department of Transport, via local authorities, is failing in its responsibility to keep the Queen's Highway free of obstructions."

Tameside council said yesterday: "Where speed bumps are introduced it is normally in response to public pressure - where there is concern, for instance, for children's safety."