STATE-of-the-art bendy buses are being bumped off Southampton streets for good by troublesome speed ramps.

Mike Smith, director of First Hampshire, announced yesterday that he had decided to pull the £2.3m fleet of super-low floor bendy buses because vehicles were being damaged by speed humps scraping along the underside.

Disabled rights campaigners are outraged and say it marks a backward step.

But bus bosses say new traffic calming in University Road convinced them that the 13 bendies had to go.

Now the hunt is on to find a buyer for the three-year-old buses - which have been so badly damaged by humps they look like they have been on the road for seven years.

In July, the Daily Echo told how bendy buses were being forced off certain routes through Southampton by free-standing speed humps.

City highways bosses promised to look again at ramps in Millbrook - and transport supremo Jill Baston even pledged that the problem would be resolved.

The debate rumbled on, with council chiefs insisting that the humps were regulation height.

Southampton MP John Denham even joined in to criticise the lack of joined-up thinking between the bus company and the City Council.

Now, four months on, the fleet is getting the push.

Director of operations Mr Smith said: "These buses have used up their life twice as quickly as they should. In Millbrook the council repaired the humps but we realised the design was unsuitable for bendy buses which flex in the middle.

"The humps in University Road are brand new so they're not so bad but the buses ground when you have a full load."

He added: "It's a shame because when the buses came into the city we were one of the first areas to get them. They were sexy and the idea was that we could attract more people back to buses with the high technology.

"It's unfortunate it hasn't worked that way. We're now looking to swap them, hopefully for an equal spec."

But Ian Loynes, from the Southampton Centre for Independent Living, is furious that disabled people will lose out as the buses, hailed by wheelchair users when they were introduced, disappear.

"It's very regrettable that they have done this. Portsmouth have got their act together with an infrastructure that's compatible with bendy buses. There's no reason why it can't be done here as well," he said.

"It's ridiculous that buses and humps aren't compatible. On the surface it appears that the city council has got to get its house in order."

Geoff Wilkinson, from the Hampshire Coalition of Disabled People, said: "People all over Southampton are suddenly going to find they can't get their wheelchairs on public transport because the automatic ramps have gone.

"This affects not only disabled people, but elderly people too."

Southampton City Council's head of transport Rod Anderson said First Hampshire would always replace a bus unsuited to a route with one that was.

He said speed humps were important in cutting accidents - fatalities and serious crashes have dropped 67 per cent in the past 18 years. Mr Anderson added: "Road humps are among the factors that determine whether a route is suitable for a very large vehicle.

"We work with the bus companies to provide facilities such as bus shelters, clearways and special kerbs to avoid a step when boarding, and they will always take the needs of all their passengers into account when they make their decisions about the fleet."

First Hampshire spokeswoman Patricia Gray said she hoped the replacements would be low-floored buses but could not guarantee it at this stage.

She said: "Any replacements to these vehicles in the future will be with vehicles that are more appropriate to the city's road conditions."

GOING - BENDY BUSES WILL DISAPPEAR FROM THESE ROUTES:

11 and 11A from Sholing along Portsmouth Road to the city centre, then up The Avenue, through Portswood to the university.

5, 5A and 5E from Sholing to Bitterne, past St Mary's Stadium to the city centre, then past the train station, through Shirley to the General Hospital and to Lordswood. The same service also runs along Hill Lane, along Archers Road and on to Carlton Crescent.

GONE - THEY'VE ALREADY VANISHED FROM:

17, 17A and 17E from Weston, past Ocean Village, into the city centre, then past the central train station, out through Shirley and round the Millbrook estate.