Last straw for villagers as field used as detour
MOTORISTS are detouring through a farmer’s field to avoid an 11-mile diversion route after a 65ft section of main road through a village was shut to traffic.
Dozens of vehicles including a Royal Mail delivery van have been caught on camera being driven across a recently mown field in Lakenheath, Suffolk.
Roadworks are blocking a section of the B1112 which residents use to travel from one end of the village to the other.
Drivers face an 11-mile diversion when the road is shut. The closure is in place for drainage works until Aug 24.
One woman said she saw a white van exiting the field. She said the van managed to come through across her “garden, up the kerb and off the kerb with a little bit of verbal in between”. When the footage of motorists was shared on social media, exasperated residents blasted the drivers as “disgraceful”.
Susan North, who often walks her dog around the same field, says “it is a bit intimidating” and there are “not many places I can get off the track to let vehicles pass.” Suffolk Highways said: “We are disappointed to hear of private roads being misused to avoid the diversion and reports of members of the public abusing our staff.”
Royal Mail said: “We always advise our drivers to drive safely and responsibly ... We are investigating this incident as a matter of urgency.”