HIGHWAYS bosses should consider removing road humps which could delay ambulances on emergency calls, the Government has said.

The Department for Transport has written to local councils amid complaints that the humps could be putting lives at risk.

York City Council, North Yorkshire County Council and East Riding - which have responsibility for roads - have been told to consult emergency services before installing any more humps.

The DfT's road safety division also tells councils to review existing humps identified by ambulance, fire and police services as causing a problem.

The letter states: "The Department acknowledges that full consideration should be given to the wider implications of introducing traffic-calming measures on our roads.

"This is particularly important with regard to response times for the emergency services."

The letter was sent in a response to a complaint from London Ambulance Service, which suggests that many lives could be saved if their vehicles were not restricted by traffic-calming measures.

But it also follows the mothballing of 40 new Mercedes ambulances by Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service Trust because they could not cope with speed humps.

The difficulty for the £4 million fleet was caused by the weight of the hydraulic lifts fitted to the back of the ambulances to get wheelchairs in and out of them.

The lift made the ambulances sit lower than they would otherwise do. The vehicles then strike the road when driven over the traffic-calming road humps, which are a particularly popular speed control measure in the York area.

Updated: 11:37 Monday, September 22, 2003