Taxi driver: 'I'm losing hundreds of bookings a week because of town centre roadworks'
A taxi firm fed up with the number of ongoing roadworks in Stafford town centre has lodged a formal complaint to the Transport Minister branding the county council “totally and utterly incompetent”.
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Three major routes into town are currently affected by works, which has led to gridlock, hundreds of lost bookings each week and lengthy journeys across town for customers, drivers and bosses at Aerobrights have said.
They have slammed Staffordshire County Council’s highways department for its handling of the situation, which is affecting routes including the A449 Wolverhampton Road and Chell Road in the town centre.
They have submitted a letter of complaint to MPs Mark Harper and Theo Clarke, who represents the Stafford constituency, saying the roadworks have been “poorly planned” and allowed to go on for weeks and months longer than necessary.
They have also spoken of “random road closures happening every day without warning” and repairs to potholes and sunken manhole covers lasting just a few weeks before needing re-repairing.
And they are now facing challenges getting self-employed drivers to work at peak times because of the traffic issues.
Driver Bill Armstrong said it had taken him an hour to complete a round trip from Staffordshire Technology Park to the railway station on Thursday afternoon.
