DELAYED roadworks in north Oxfordshire are giving drivers a bumpy ride because diversion routes are so bad.

A stretch of road north of Banbury was closed on March 21 for flood prevention work by the Environment Agency and was meant to reopen on July 11.

But Northamptonshire County Council requested the road, between junction 11 of the M40 and Williamscot, be widened. It is due to reopen in October.

Carol Wixey, landlady of the Hare & Hounds in Wardington, said: “It is ruining our cars. The suspension on mine has gone.” Passing trade has also been hit and the routes are severely potholed, staff added.

Wardington resident Camille Jokumsen, the sub-postmistress of Cropredy Post Office, said: “The side roads are horrific, I have known three or four people who have had accidents.

“They are narrow and the edges are just dropping away.”

“How stupid is it that they took three months to realise their mistake?”

Organisers of last week’s Cropredy Festival widely publicised alternative routes, including exiting at junction 10 or 12 of the M40.

Gareth Williams, director of the folk festival, said the traffic was better than last year’s event.

He said: “Those lanes are in a shocking condition.

“It took up a whole of a lot of time when I should have been concentrating on other matters.”

The council and Environment Agency apologised for “any inconvenience caused”.

The road is being raised as part of anti-flood work in and around Banbury.