New road layout leaves drivers trapped in supermarket car park

Drivers stuck in their cars trying to leave Asda car park on to Newgate Lane in Fareham

A multimillion-pound package of road improvements is in the process of being put in by Hampshire County Council, however businesses in Speedfields Industrial Park, off Newgate Lane, say this has left their customers trapped, unable to get out of the car park.

The problem has been compounded this week, with an increase in customers using the supermarket over the holidays, and has even left new mothers trapped with tiny babies and seen road rage incidents erupt.

Asda’s customer trading manager Chris Lockyer said: ‘Congestion has been poor over Easter with people stuck in the car park.

‘We had a mother with a baby stuck for 40 minutes on Monday, so we had to get baby milk from the store to support.

‘The police refuse to come out unless there has been an accident – they won’t even support the traffic to at least marshal it from the roundabout to ease congestion.

‘We are getting daily complaints from people wanting the congestion sorted.’

‘Since the traffic lights have been by the roundabout the roads are often gridlocked.’

Dan Jordan, store assistant at Screwfix, said: ‘It’s a nightmare. Something needs to be done.’

They called on the council to speed up a review that is currently under way.

Sean Woodward, the former executive member for transport at Hampshire County Council and current leader of Fareham Borough Council, said he had brought forward a review of the scheme as one of his last actions in his role on the county council.

He said officers were looking at it, but added that the whole package of work needed to be finished, such as the work on Peel Common Roundabout, before a proper assessment could be made.

He said: ‘Clearly the priority needs to be traffic flowing along Newgate Lane and the majority of messages I have received say that journeys between Gosport and Fareham have improved.’

However he urged drivers to be more considerate.

Cllr Woodward said: ‘Most of the issues which cause traffic queuing out of the park is due to bad manners on Newgate Lane – people are hogging lanes, nobody lets anybody out, and that causes problems.’