PEOPLE living on a Chippenham housing estate fear young children are at risk from giant lorries being driven by soldiers who are learning to drive near their homes.

Town councillor Richard Bambury says concerns raised by himself and families living in Pewsham have been ignored by the MoD and the company running the training contract.

Householders are worried that the number of Heavy Goods Vehicles and Large Goods Vehicles on the estate is on the increase at a time when many children are playing outside during the summer holidays.

Ex-serviceman David Faulconbridge, 61, who lives on the Pewsham Estate, said: “The risk is small children could be knocked over.

“There is an increasing feeling of antipathy towards them and the fact we are being brushed off. It is an accident waiting to happen.

“It is the summer holidays now and kids will be out on their bikes in the estate.”

Kent-based company Mainstream has been contracted by the MoD to train the soldiers to drive the lorries.

Two years ago Mainstream gave a presentation to Chippenham Town Council saying there would be no more than six lorries travelling through the estate per day, and they wouldn’t be driven during the school pick-up and drop-off times, but Cllr Bambury says that this is no longer the case.

He said: “It has been going on a number of years but it has been getting worse. Kings Lodge Community School is on Lodge Road on the estate, but the agreement soon went out the window, and I have counted up to 20 in an hour.

“They come out of the estate, go round the roundabout on the A4 Pewsham Way and back into the estate.

“Another thing they promised not to do was park on the estate but we have evidence that they park quite frequently on Canal Road.

“There are lots of residents moaning about this, ironically, some of these are ex-servicemen.

“They say there is no need for them to go through Pewsham.

“It is a residential estate, it isn’t designed for HGVs.

“We have tried to talk to Mainstream to come to some agreement but it has got to the stage where they will not engage with us.

“I have also written to the commanding officer at Lyneham asking if he can help.

“I have applied to Wiltshire Council to have a seven and a half tonne limit on the estate to keep these lorries out.”

Residents have seen lorries mounting the pavements and practising manoeuvres on their roads.

Mainstream was unavailable for comment.

A spokesman for DSEME, said: "No individual complaints have been received by DSEME or Mainstream.

"However, we are responsive to complaints from local people and have altered procedures to accommodate perceived issues in the past."

Regarding the issues raised, they said training only takes place on public main roads, not in residential streets and there has never been a traffic incident involving Mainstream and trainees in the area.