www.divinationpower.com  A NOTORIOUS rat run where HGVs shake residents' homes as they pass could finally be calmed - with the help of police.The streets of Alexandra Park Road, Crescent Road and Albert Road are used as shortcuts by truck and coach drivers to dodge the North Circular bottleneck at Bounds Green.

Residents have been pushing for a big vehicle ban for years.It is hoped that £600,000 promised by the then-Mayor of London Ken Livingstone will be used to stop them getting through using a mix of a police-enforced weight restriction and road reshaping.Haringey Council is meeting residents in Alexandra to discuss options next week, and hopes are high as police have already vowed to enforce a 7.5 tonne weight limit if one is imposed along these roads.

The junction of Alexandra Park Road and Albert Road could also be reshaped to make it harder for large vehicles to turn right when travelling from Muswell Hill to Wood Green.Jimmy Athanassiou, chairman of Palace Gates Residents' Association, said: "It is like a minor earthquake. You even get Stansted coaches cutting through here. But I am optimistic. The police are supportive and even the local schools are supportive."

Sergeant Neil Billany, head of the Alexandra Safer Neighbourhoods Team, says he has promised the council he will enforce a weight restriction "if it were put in place".But banning big vehicles could pose problems for the lorries needed to build the planned Haringey Heartlands development and Heartlands High School in Wood Green.

A spokesman for Haringey Council said the ideas are part of a "wider improvement programme around the A406, aimed at deterring rat running and improving safety".He added: "We are planning to consult residents, though the boundaries for the consultation area have not yet been decided."The council has also made clear that a weight restriction could only prove effective if the police were able to enforce it on a regular basis.