Motorists ground to a halt on the B4234, last Wednesday morning, as road closed signs appeared just off Kerne Bridge and outside the Walford Timber yard.

The stretch of road, approximately a mile in length, was closed after a land slip at Kerne Lodge.

George Smith, of Walford Timber, said: "With no advanced notice of the closure until right outside the turning for our premises, drivers are using the junction as a turning.

"From a business point of view it is not an ideal start to the new year. It has meant we have been very quiet, but we are still open. We do lots of business with customers from the Forest of Dean, and this obviously makes it difficult for them to get to us."

In an attempt to help their customers, Walford Timber offered customers south of Kerne Bridge, that had trouble getting to Walford, free delivery.George added: "The other knock on effect of the closure is that our delivery lorries have to come through the town to get to us, and this causes its own problems."

One local resident called the Gazette on Friday to say that he was "staggered" that advanced signs and diversions, informing motorists and residents of the closure, had still not been put in place. He said that the elderly, from Bishopswood, would not be able to get to Ross and that Herefordshire Council "needs to repair relations with the local community", due to the lack of information available. He added that there was a similar lack of information when the same thing happened a couple of years ago, which also left the road closed.

For the rest of this story please see this week's Ross Gazette.