HIGHWAY bosses have stepped in to try and help residents who feel trapped in their homes in Britford.

The villagers live alongside the busy A338 Salisbury to

Bournemouth road and have been enduring several weeks of constant traffic jams, caused by temporary traffic lights.

The lights have been erected outside the site for Salisbury's newest park-and-ride, which is being constructed at Britford, and have been causing traffic tailbacks, often stretching back a mile or more to the Bodenham dual carriageway.

Angela Longhurst, whose driveway emerges on to the A338 on a blind bend, said she faced a nightmare every time she tried to leave her home.

Often, she said, she had to sit in her car waiting for a gap to appear in the line of stationary traffic, all the time hoping someone would let her out.

Then she has to run the gauntlet of trying to pull out in front of vehicles that have been waiting for some time for the lights to change and have sped away after getting the green light.

She said: "My journeys usually take me towards Downton, so I have to drive across traffic waiting to get into Salisbury and then turn right.

"There is a blind bend to my left and vehicles come speeding round it from the lights."

Mrs Longhurst approached the police, who said they could do nothing and it was a matter for the local authorities.

Mrs Longhurst said: "The district council was not at all helpful and basically said it was a problem I had to put up with.

"The Highways Agency were much better and someone came out to see me and look at the problem.

"They agreed something needed to be done and they are arranging for signs to be put outside my home, asking waiting drivers to keep my driveway clear."

David Fuller, publicity officer for the Salisbury Motor Cycle and Light Car Club, said signs were also needed on the Downton side of Britford, warning of stationary vehicles on the blind bend.

He said there had been one or two near-misses as drivers going round the bend had suddenly found themselves faced with the rear end of stationary vehicles.

The temporary traffic lights have been erected while contractors construct the roads that will lead in and out of the park-and-ride site.

The Highways Agency said it hoped to have the lights removed before Britford school opened at the start of next term.