DRIVERS were less than impressed with temporary trials to make a narrow road safer.

Gloucestershire County Council has been trialling methods of slowing the traffic through the ‘pinch point’ in Silver Street, Dursley.

Temporary bollards and give-way signs were in operation for several weeks to allow only one lane of traffic through at any one time.

However at peak times the give-way system caused tail-backs and congestion.

Motorist Jayne Bartlett said she thought the bollards had been "a real pain". While local business owner Stephen Warwick said the road was made "less safe" by the measure and meant you couldn’t cross the road.

"The money should be going into repairing roads, such as the hill out of Uley," he added.

Ali Edwards wrote on the Gazette Facebook page: "It’s causing chaos in the mornings, specially with all the double yellow parking outside the newsagents."

Silver Street was identified as unsafe several years ago but no consensus was reached on what should be done. The idea of a one-way system down the Crest Nicholson estate and up Long Street was muted but was not well received by local residents.

The idea of the temporary bollards was to trial different ways of making the road safer before any money is spent on a project.

The trials ended last week and Gloucestershire Highways will now be looking at ideas for a long-term solution.

Cllr Dennis Andrewartha, county councillor for Cam and Dursley, said that he understood some people were not happy about the temporary trials but he believed it was the best way to come up with a solution.

"We have had several incidents on Silver Street over the years with people falling into the road and being knocked by cars. It can be unsafe and we need to come up with a way of resolving it.

"I think that the give-way was probably the wrong side, but that is all part of the trial."