Victoria Street in Chatteris is used as a rat run by overweight vehicles and speeding drivers

Residents of a one-way street are fed up with lorries, tractors with trailers, and even buses using it as a rat run.

A couple who live in Victoria Street, Chatteris, turned up at last night’s town council meeting to highlight the issues faced by residents during the public forum.

Caroline and Kevin Terry asked councillors if they could help with the traffic issues that also include some vehicles driving the wrong way down the road.

Mrs Terry said working from home she gets to hear and see all the vehicles trundling past her home, many of them she says speeding.

She also said the lorries and the large tractors with trailers make the house shake and should not be using Victoria Street in the first place as there is a weight limit on the road.

She said if she is quick enough to see which company a vehicle is from as they pass by she emails the firm to report it.

She said many of them are Mick George skip lorries, and that the firm now has a dedicated email to report such incidents. She said they believe many of the larger tractors with trailers are coming from Pretoria Energy, but as they are unmarked it is difficult to say for certain.

The road is a dedicated bus route, but she said many of the buses are using Victoria Street as a means of turning around, since the turning space near the police station was done away with.

On top of all these problems most of the street lights are not working, leaving residents in pitch black when walking at night, and UK Power Networks has said there is a problem with the underground cabling.

Mrs Terry said: “It is not clear whether the damage has been caused by the heavy traffic, but it is a possibility. We may be able to find out more next week when UK Power Networks are due to come out to repair the cables.”

In the meantime, the dark street is encouraging some dog owners not to pick up after their pets resulting in dog mess everywhere.

Cllr Sue Unwin agreed the street is dark and said: “I’m taking my life in my hands walking down there as it is pitch black.”

Cllr Unwin said she regularly sees vehicles driving the wrong way down Victoria Street from her vantage point in the nearby garage where she works.

One positive was an improvement in poor parking which had come about following the closure of the vet surgery that used to be located in the street.

Chatteris mayor Anne Hay agreed it was a bad situation but said it was difficult to get action, particularly with speeding.

However, two members of the Fenland Neighbourhood Policing Team who cover Chatteris, were at the meeting and they promised to carry out checks in Victoria Street when they had the time.