Morebus boss's anger at A35 roadworks delay

SGN are undertaking gas works on the road, however Andrew Wickham, managing director of Go South Coast, which operates Morebus, said the road has been dug up and left.

The Purbeck Breezer 40 has to divert to access Upton, which means a longer journey for customers and the Morebus x8 is delayed in evening peak traffic leaving Poole.

Mr Wickham said: “We have to deal with this all the time. We use roads, there are works, we get that.

“It’s unfortunate that utilities need to be buried under roads, but they are and things go wrong sometimes and they have to dig up the road.

“The frustrating thing is I think the lane closure has been in place since before Christmas and nothing happens there, they have dug up the road and left it.

“There’s no sign of work going on, it’s got to be pushing on for two months.

“We accept there’s going to be road works but it’s the length of time it takes, especially with no work going on.

“If they are working 24 hours a day and it takes two months then what can you do? They haven’t explained why the thing was left for so long.”

Mr Wickham said the disruption wasn’t too bad for passengers, but he was more frustrated in the lack of communication and work.

He continued: “I would like in the future road disruption to be minimised by getting parts in before the road is dug up.

“Perhaps night-time working as well where possible, long hours working and in this case, working at all.

“This is not the first time this has happened with the utilities work.”

Mr Wickham frustratingly tweeted SGN saying the company had not got back to him despite promising to do so, adding: “This shows you couldn’t care less.”

SGN replied: “I've spoken to the manager for the area who advised this is a complex and needs to be completed in phases.

“Our engineers will be on site today to start the repairs and the work will be complete by March 28.”

SGN has been approached for an official statement.