ROAD rage incidents have led highway chiefs to switch to evening working to complete resurfacing work.

Motorists have been fuming over congestion caused by the closure of Mobberley Road in Knutsford for resurfacing.

On occasion tempers have boiled over, and traffic management staff have been threatened by members of the public. As a result Cheshire East Council decided this week to move the work to the evening.

Work was scheduled for 9.30am to 3.30pm, and was due to be completed by tomorrow. However because of the threats working hours have been changed to 6pm to 10pm, and work is now expected to be finished next week.

Residents contacted the Guardian and tweeted to vent their frustration at the gridlock and the danger they said was caused by lorries mounting pavements in nearby roads.

Local resident Stuart Willis contacted the council over problems caused by lorries using Manor Park North and South, taking them past primary schools as children were leaving.

He said: “There has been a lot of HGVs coming up from Manor Park South and onto Manor Park North, and faced with a road closure sign they had to make a tight turn onto Shaw Drive to go to Parkgate industrial estate.

“I have seen cars and HGVs having to drive on the footpaths and bottlenecks at the junction of Manor Park North and Shaw Drive, where wagons got stuck and couldn’t manoeuvre to get out, and then people have been abusive to the workforce and other motorists.”

Rick Weightman became stuck as he tried to drive from Shaw Drive to Legh Road via Mobberley Road to get to his business in Northwich.

“Traffic was blocked every which way, with many irate motorists caught in the mess,” he said.

“We could see no diversion signs or anybody with any idea, and God help us if there was a serious fire or anyone needs an ambulance.”

Knutsford town councillor Andrew Malloy tweeted his concerns about cars driving along the pavement on Manor Park North, criticising the “awful organisation” of the roadworks.

A Cheshire East spokesman said Mobberley Road was closed to all vehicles, including HGVs, which was made clear on all temporary road signs, and an official diversion was clearly signed.

“A small minority of HGVs and vehicles were ignoring the closure, which posed a risk to the highways workforce and the public, and this was reported to Cheshire Constabulary,” he said.

“There were alternative routes to all locations, provided motorists turned off Mobberley Road at the correct point.”

On October 1 the council was experiencing difficulties with its Tarmac supplies, he added, and the decision was taken to extend the working time to make the area safe.

“If we hadn’t extended our working hours the road would have needed to remain closed overnight,” he said.

“However on Monday a number of threats were made by members of the public against our traffic management staff, and because of health and safety concerns for the staff we took the decision to stop daytime working.

“We will now be working in the evenings between 6pm and 10pm, and expect to finish the job on Tuesday, October 14. We had wanted to avoid evening working so as not to disturb local residents with noise.

“Last week we instructed our traffic management company to put cones on Manor Park North to stop vehicles being driven on the pavement.”