AMERICAN motor home owner Chris Mole could hardly believe his eyes when he was travelling behind his much loved vehicle into Marlborough and it was side swiped by a huge lorry.

Mr Mole, who was travelling from his home in Oxford to Cornwall, is the latest person to be caught up in the problems caused by roadworks in the town.

He said: "This happened to us on Thursday and then I saw the Gazette later in the day and read the story about the town being gridlocked and the problems with lorries.

"I realised we had got caught up in the problem."

Mr Mole, who runs an events business, was taking his partner's advice not to take the wheel of the left-hand drive vehicle himself and instead had asked a friend to drive it while he travelled behind in another vehicle.

He said: "We got to the roundabout where the A4 meets the High Street and a lorry just came along and side swiped the campervan. It smashed the enormous wing mirror which is positioned very high up. It also affected the part where the awning is attached and knocked it out of true. The other vehicle didn't stop.

"I want to see if I can get hold of any CCTV which might show exactly what happened."

Mr Mole continued on their journey but stopped at a friend's home on the outskirts of Devizes so that repairs could be carried out to the vehicle.

Last week the Gazette reported the anger of people living and working in Marlborough about roadworks which had closed George Lane since April 5.

This put pressure on other roads leading to gridlock as work was also being carried out on London Road and Salisbury Road. Eventually the other work was put on hold.

Lorna Kilminster, 75, who lives off Elcot Lane, said: “The road closures have made the congestion much worse.

“It took over half an hour for someone to get to us from the top of Granham Hill. Unfortunately the lay-out of the roads in Marlborough doesn’t help the situation.”

Dave Shaw, part of Marlborough Traffic Problems group, added: “There appears to be little in communication between the different Wiltshire Council departments and a lack of planning and forward thinking, with numerous roadworks being given the go ahead at the same time, causing absolute chaos. There is a feeling generally in the town that our opinions are totally disregarded.”

The closure saw large vehicles and heavy traffic flow dominate alternate routes.

A tractor pulling hay bales mounted the pavement last Monday morning as it turned on to Pewsey Road from the High Street.