SPEEDING drivers racing along a Hartlebury road are causing misery for residents desperate to put a stop to the "nightmare" before someone gets seriously hurt.

Cars, vans and lorries whizz up and down the Old Worcester Road as if it was a race track, exceeding the 30mph speed limit by up to 20mph, said concerned homeowner Bernard Foulkes.

He added his neighbour Peter Harris' parked Range Rover was involved in a collision and "shoved" 20 feet, causing it to smash into two gate posts as well as wooden and concrete posts. The car has since been written off.

Although it is not known if the accident, about five weeks ago, was caused by speeding Mr Foulkes said it was the final straw, adding something needed to be done to slow drivers down.

"They race up and down here like its a race track," he explained. "It's every day - it's a nightmare. We get a lot of lorries going to the trading estate and they thunder along.

"We've been complaining about speeding traffic for some time. The accident happened right outside my door.

"The car was shoved on to my fence. It took out two five bar gates, a wooden post, two concrete posts and two 6ft panels. It made a right mess."

He said residents had made complaints to the police and Hartlebury Parish Council, adding a mobile camera was temporarily installed but the problem continued once it was removed.

"You stand outside and all you hear is 'whoosh, whoosh' ," said Mr Foulkes. "There are people living down the road who have children so it can't be very nice for them. I have got grandchildren who come down and we do make sure they are on the path."

Mr Harris said it was a "godsend" no-one was in his car at the time of the crash, adding he heard an "almighty bang" from his garden before finding the vehicle embedded in his car.

He now wants to see traffic calming measures, such as road narrowing with give way signs installed.

"Most of the traffic speeds up the road but in particular it's the delivery drivers and lorries going up to the landfill site," he said.

"When it gets to work start and finish times it's like a race track. The average speed is about 40 to 50mph.

"It's getting silly and something needs to be done about it now before someone gets seriously injured."

A spokeswoman for The Safer Roads Partnership said speed enforcement was carried out on the road in 2011 for four months, adding: " As the volume of traffic did not fit the criteria for further speed enforcement activity, the information was passed back to Worcestershire County Council to identify whether any engineering solutions could be implemented to improve compliance with the speed limit."