LORRIES are getting stuck in a village’s narrow streets, caused in part by rogue diversion signs that haven’t been removed for more than a year.

HGVs once again descended on Wolvercote on Friday after problems on the A34 caused chaos on the roads in a scene that has become very familiar to local residents.

Godstow Road resident Robert Logan says the signs put up in the village and at the Wolvercote roundabout for the filming of Mamma Mia 2 in August 2017 are sending vehicles off the A40 and exacerbating the problem.

 

He said: "The signs were put up for the filming and either retained or reinstated for an overnight closure of the A34 Wytham Turn for resurfacing a few weeks later.

"They were never removed thereafter and have been confusing HGV drivers.

"We've had a lorry having to turn around in the tiny Webb's Close with residents holding back traffic to give it room to get out.

"Another got wedged on the Trout bridge for ten minutes and damaged the retaining wall.

"It gets bad when another diversion is in place, as last week, and drivers are looking for signs.

"But we get two to three a week who get as far as Webb’s Close before accepting that they are not on the A40.

"It's usually a rogue sat nav or sometimes just stupidity."

 

Roads had to be closed as scenes from the blockbuster film, which came out last July, were recorded near the Trout pub in the summer of 2017.

Work has also started on the 190 home Paper Mill development leading to more large vehicles needing to access the nearly 1,000 year old village.

READ AGAIN: £180m plans to improve A40

Steve Goddard, the city councillor for Wolvercote, said Friday's chaos on the roads had 'especially exposed' an ongoing problem by sending heavy vehicles down into the village.

He added: "It’s not entirely clear how much of this was the result of possibly misinterpreted diversion signs, and how much may have come about from misleading satnavs in HGVs, but it certainly led to serious problems along the Godstow Road.

"While this was a relatively unusual set of circumstances, it’s easy to see how it could be repeated, and we are indeed looking into how to prevent it from happening in future."

READ AGAIN: Plan for paper mill given go-ahead

County councillor Paul Buckley said he had heard reports of HGVs being diverted into Lower Wolvercote and getting stuck.

He added: "I am currently trying to find out more about what the problems were, as we have to try to prevent it happening again in future."