WHEN couple Lee Kendall and Lisa Bunce bought their first home in Mazurek Way, Haydon End they could not have been happier.

But just seven months on, Lee says their life is being made miserable by articulated lorries careering over speed bumps within North Swindon Orbital Centre – causing their house to shake to its foundations.

The couple say that neighbours have lost roof tiles because of the problem – one recently toppling off and into a children’s garden sandpit.

“It was just a stroke of luck there were no kids playing in it at the time,” said Lee, 38.

“It is getting beyond a joke now – they don’t adhere to the speed limits and I’m beginning to wonder if all this thundering past will affect the structural integrity of our house.

“I don’t have a problem with lorries driving past – when you live next door to the Orbital retail park you’d be daft not to think you’d have delivery traffic going by, but the speed bumps simply aren’t an appropriate traffic calming solution for heavy vehicles, especially if the drivers speed over them.Chicanes which force them to slow down would be much better.”

The problem came to a head in April when a neighbour’s roof tiles began to fall off. Lee emailed Swindon Council’s Transport Development Management department on April 13. He was told he would receive a response within 10 days. With no reply by April 21, Lee emailed North Swindon’s then MP Michael Wills to ask him to look into the matter. He received no reply.

He also claims he called the customer services department at the Orbital and was told someone would call him back. He says he is still awaiting that call.

On April 22, the council’s highway agreement co-ordinator emailed back saying: “We are currently working on a formal written response to your concerns and hope to issue the formal correspondence to you by mid next week.”

But by the end of May Lee had heard nothing.

It was not until June 7 that he received a response. Two days later Lee received another email telling him that the manager was away but his concerns would be made a priority.

“I have heard nothing back since and it is really frustrating,” he said.

“Some kind of response would be good so I can follow a different line of enquiry or contact different people.”

The Swindon Advertiser rang Orbital site services and spoke to site services contact Dennis Hickey.

Mr Hickey said he was keen to speak to Mr Kendall about the issue and would see if the park could rectify the situation.

“I am aware of the road Mr Kendall is referring to and we do have 5mph signs on that road because of the speed bumps,” he said. “We also have security on site but cannot have someone monitoring the speed of drivers all day.

“I will however call Mr Kendall and discuss the problem to try and resolve it. I will also contact the site’s private parking firm to see what we can do.”