MOTORISTS faced a third day of traffic chaos in and around Oxford yesterday with a cab driver saying it’s disastrous for business.

Oxford taxi driver Colin Dobson said delays from works had “significantly” affected his takings.

Mr Dobson, 48, said: “On Tuesday my last two passengers to Oxford station had to bail out of the taxi while it was stuck in traffic because they couldn’t wait.

“Journeys are taking twice as long as they should, so I’m doing less than half the jobs I should be in my normal hours.”

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Drivers again reported major congestion on the main routes including the A40, A420 London Road, Headington, due to resurfacing work, the Kennington roundabout, A34 and Botley Road into the city.

Bus driver Stephen Payne said he took a bike with him to work so he could cycle back to the depot as it was quicker than driving.

The 27-year-old from Wheatley dropped pupils off at Wheatley Park School on Tuesday but he was about 45 minutes late because of delays on the A40.

To make sure he was not late for his next school run, to Beckley Primary School, he left the Walters coach at the school and ran back to the depot in Forest Hill about a mile-and-a-half away.

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  • Coach driver Stephen Payne

Yesterday Mr Payne said: “It’s a shame that kids are getting into school late.

“I didn’t want to sit in traffic on the way back to the depot so I ran back instead to pick up another coach.”

William Blowfield, from the company, said: “We run 26 buses for 1,300 school pupils and every one of them has been delayed in some way this week.”

A staff member at Wheatley Park School confirmed some pupils arrived about 45 minutes late on Tuesday due to traffic hold-ups.

Paul Mills, 32, from Witney, has set up a Facebook page called UFAIC (United Front Against Incompetent Councillors) and said those county councillors in charge of the roads network should resign.

The renewable energy systems designer said: “I usually try to avoid Oxford but this week I can’t because I’m on jury service.

“The page has about 100 ‘likes’ so far and I think the council leaders have got it massively wrong this time and should resign over this.”

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  • Paul Mills

Cabinet member for transport David Nimmo Smith said he was being bombarded with emails from drivers.

He said: “School pupils arriving late is an unfortunate knock-on effect of the roadworks.

“I am being bombarded by texts and emails at the moment but we are trying to boost road capacity to improve the economy.”

The chief executive of Google also felt the full force of Oxford’s traffic yesterday.

The company’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt was due to deliver a talk at the Oxford Union but turned up almost two hours late because of the traffic on the city’s roads.

From today Abingdon Road, Oxford, will not be accessible in either direction from Kennington roundabout as the contraflow is changing.


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