IT is not only Pershore traders who are having to cope with disruption to their lives as motorists in the town found out this week.

As the £600,000 High Street Enhancement Scheme entered the second of its 15-week schedule, motorists have begun to grow unhappy with the tailbacks which the work is creating.

Two sets of lights have been erected at either end of the High Street, directing single file traffic through Pershore as engineers work on widening the pavements.

One driver to notice the effect is Nathan Smith, aged 22, of Farleigh Road, Pershore.

He said: "The traffic is built up at both entrances to the High Street. I was travelling back from Wick and the queue began near the entrance to Pershore College. The traffic was not moving very quickly at all and it took me around 20 minutes just to get into the town. It is an absolute nightmare at the moment."

One Pershore man has suggested a way of dealing with the problem - by making Pershore a one-way system for the duration of the works and even longer if it proved successful.

Mike Taylor, of Station Road, said: "Traffic could go down the High Street starting at Station Road and ending at Broad Street with the diversion around by the cemetery on Defford Road and then Three Springs Road. The traffic would hardly be affected at all and the town would stop being a bottleneck. This could be brought in for the 15 weeks of the scheme and if it works, why not make it permanent? I don't know why this idea hasn't been thought of in the past."

Mr Taylor said that the traffic problems are being exacerbated by drivers who park outside town centre shops and slow down the flow of vehicles.