Residents fear increase in lorry traffic

A GROUP of Shaw residents fear that problems with delivery lorries are about to get worse after an anonymous tip-off.

Residents of Beal Lane and Milnrow Road are at end of their tether due to the constant drone of lorries trundling past their homes at all times of the day.

Gill Harkins of the Oak House Hotel, who is leading the campaign to restrict the lorry travel times past her place of work, received a letter through the door, accompanied by the picture of her group which appeared in the Chronicle.

The letter, addressed to all employees of Shopdirect, states that there will be increased Saturday deliveries – which residents say is currently the quietest time.

Staff are also being given the chance to swap shifts to finish work at 11pm rather than 10pm from Monday to Friday.

Ms Harkins said: “I don’t know whether someone is trying to warn us or wind us up but I’m glad we’ve seen it.

“We can’t stand the noise anymore. My friend has constant migraines, she doesn’t sleep at all.

“I can’t use the front four rooms of my hotel as it’s so noisy. I’ve invited councillors to stay and they’ve declined, funnily enough.

“I can’t be the only one complaining. We’ve even had to buy earplugs.

“Saturday is probably the quietest day at the moment and now there are going to be even more trucks around.”

Ms Harkins and her neighbours say they have counted lorries, mostly emblazoned with the Littlewoods logo, entering and leaving the site at around 1am, at a rate of one per minute.

Shopdirect say that lorries owned by them are not driven in or out of the site after 10pm but they do share the site with sister company, Yodel.

Yodel confirmed they do use Littlewoods branded lorries for their deliveries.

A spokeswoman said: “Our customers are increasingly choosing to shop later and have the goods delivered the next day and in this tough economic climate, it is essential that we adapt to meet these changing demands of our customers.

“However, we do sympathise with the concerns of the local community and believe that the decision to remove the traffic calming system will significantly decrease noise levels.”