STATE-of-the-art bendy buses have been forced off routes through Southampton because they cannot get over new humps.

The multi-million-pound fleet of low-floor First Hampshire vehicles were scraping over free-standing speed ramps in Millbrook, destroying the vehicles' special turntable and taking chunks out of the humps.

A month of repairs did little to solve the problem which has left the bus company and Southampton City Council pointing the finger at one another - with no sign of a resolution.

It also leaves disabled and elderly passengers frustrated as the new buses are equipped with special low floors for easier access.

Now city MP John Denham is demanding the government step in to help get the buses back on the road.

Among those driven round the bend by the bus row is schoolgirl Kerri Jones, who is confined to a wheelchair.

Her family moved to their home in Weston specifically to be on a low access bendy route but now her journey across the city to school in Shirley is a misery.

Bus firm First Hampshire says the council must remove the ramps to allow their two-year-old buses to go back on the route.

But city transport bosses say their ramps are built to government dimensions and it must be the fleet of 13 First Hampshire buses that do not comply with highway rules.

Bendy buses were taken off the 17 and 17A routes from Weston through to Millbrook last year to allow council transport experts to carry out vital repair work on the damaged speed humps.

Changes were made and the buses went back into service earlier this year, but the 60ft vehicles were still banging on the ramps and were whisked off the routes again.

Bendybuses can still go over other speed humps in the city because of the different styles of traffic calming, but the Millbrook humps sit between the wheels and scrape along the underside.

Southampton Itchen MP John Denham said: "On the one hand you have bus companies investing in new vehicles, on the other hand you have Department of Transport standards which don't let these vehicles operate.

"We have to do these things in a way that doesn't make them worse for some sections of the community.

"This is the sort of lack of joined-up thinking that's getting in the way of what disabled people need."

He has written to transport minister Kim Howells about altering the size of regulation humps.

A Department of Transport spokesman said there were no plans to alter hump specifications and added that it was in the hands of the bus company to make sure vehicles could operate on certain routes.

She also said it was up to the local authority where speed bumps were placed.

First Hampshire spokesman Patricia Gray said: "It's very regrettable that the style of the ramps caused such severe damage to our vehicles. It causes an inconvenience for our passengers but at the end of the day we can't change the design of the bus."

However, a spokesman for Southampton City Council said: "We went in and did what we can. We lowered our ramps to standard. We have done everything we can so it's back to the bus company from here."