Corfe Mullen tailbacks: Frustration over A31 temporary traffic lights

Motorists have been stuck in long queues at Lake Gates

Frustration has been growing over temporary traffic lights that are causing long tailbacks on a main route through Dorset.

National Highways coned off part of the A31 near Corfe Mullen after a telecoms manhole cover was reported to be in need of repair.

But a business owner said, after a week of congestion, work was yet to start.

Openreach, which maintains the phone network, said on Friday afternoon that repair work had started.

Paul Clark, who owns the Caravan Company next to the roadworks, said the lights were "causing complete chaos".

Paul Clark says his caravan business has been "dead" for over a week

He said: "The most frustrating thing is that the bollards have been here for over a week and there have been no workman whatsoever, even looking at it or doing anything with it."

"There's going to be an accident sooner or later because people are getting frustrated.

"Customers are calling and saying, 'we're not going to bother coming in because we've got to queue for half an hour'.

"October is a little bit quieter than September anyway but for the last eight days it has just been dead - we've hardly seen anybody at all."

National Highways said it had made the area safe by installing temporary lights but the repair of the manhole cover was a specialist job, controlled by Openreach.

Openreach said: "We apologise for any inconvenience caused and advise drivers to plan ahead and leave some extra time for their journey - and thank them for their understanding."

On Friday afternoon it issued an updated statement saying: "Repair work to the dangerous carriageway box on the A31 at Wimborne is underway.

"We hope that the traffic management needed to make these repairs safely will be removed shortly after the works are complete.

"We apologise again for any inconvenience caused and thank motorists and nearby businesses for their understanding."