WHEN Nicki Nicholls ventures outside her front door, she is greeted with a scene reminiscent of a war zone.

The picture facing her of Oxford Road is one of utter chaos as builders carry out resurfacing work to the road and create a cycle path.

Gaping holes pockmark the pavement, some but not all of which are marked with cones.

Diggers run roughshod over driveways and pavements and traffic speeds through the one-way system which is in place while the roadworks are being carried out.

The rights of residents to walk along the road seem to have been ignored.

There are no barriers to mark off danger areas and no signs marking an established walkway or to warn of the dangers of works vehicles or potholes.

It would be bad enough if she was trying to negotiate the numerous dangerous hazards alone.

But having to navigate the dangers with her 16-month old daughter Emily in a pushchair presents an entirely new set of problems for 33-year old Nicki.

She said: "It is honestly like Beirut out here at the moment. There are piles of rubble everywhere, pools of water and mud everywhere.

"I have to walk along the road to get to the supermarket, and what would normally be just a ten-minute walk has turned into a half-hour trek.''

Former assistant accountant Nicki has no option but to walk, because her partner Mark Hayward needs the family car to get to work.

She said: "It is hard enough to walk through the rubble, but if like me you have to push your 16-month-old daughter through it all, it becomes a complete nightmare.

"And the problem is much worse in the early evening when it is dark. You just can't see where you are treading and there are a lot of deep holes in the pavement which just have cones placed on top. "But you can imagine how long they stay in place after the school kids have been past. I have to cross the road about four or five times during my journey to get to Sainsbury's.

"I realise that the work has to be done, but why can't be carried out in stages? I also want to know why dangerous areas are not cordoned off.

"I really don't believe that what we have had to put up with has been worth the disruption and I know other people living here feel the same."

Swindon Contractors spokes-woman Lynda Fleming said: "As far as we are concerned it is cordoned off.

"Swindon Contractors check the site every evening to make sure that everything is where it should be and that the cones and signs are where they should be."

Work started on the £1 million Oxford Road improvement scheme on September 1 and is expected to take 14 weeks.

Swindon Contractors are resurfacing the road and have removed one of the grass verges to make way for a cycle track.

The road had been earmarked for the creation of a bus lane, but when residents complained that it would turn the road into an even worse rat-run, the council backed down.