Suffolk Highways have been criticised for squandering tax-payer's money and providing a poor service after minor road repairs in Hadleigh caused uproar.

Contractors repairing two small pot holes in Duke Street used four vehicles with four separate workers to complete the task.

They also closed the road to traffic for more than half an hour, after putting a sign out saying the closure would only be for 20 minutes, causing lengthy inconvenience.

All this...

Residents claim they were verbally abused when they questioned the length of the closure and asked to go through.

"It was a complete joke," said Hadleigh resident Andy Bell. "Why they needed so many vans and contractors to fill in two small holes I have no idea. It was a total waste of our money.

"As for their attitude, well it was appalling. They put a sign up saying the road would be closed for 15 minutes, which is fair enough. But when it got to half an hour I asked to be allowed through to get on with my work, all I got was a mouthful of abuse.

"Another lady who questioned them was also given a hard time. It was disgraceful."

...for this.

Suffolk Highways were approached for comment regarding these issues but have not responded.

The issue comes just days after councillors called on Suffolk County Council's Conservative administration to not renew its highways contract with Kier and bring the service in house, to save money, streamline and improve the highways work.

A petition has been launched to secure public backing for creating an in-house highways maintenance team to control costs.

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