FUMING residents are warning lorry drivers that they are breaking the law by cutting through their village.

Complaints have been made to police that lorry drivers who are looking to avoid traffic heading into Weymouth are ignoring a 7.5-tonne weight limit and using Nottington as a rat run.

And the residents have said they are also plagued by car drivers exceeding the village’s 20mph limit.

Lara Wood, 39, said more lorries are using the route since Wessex Water started work close to Manor Roundabout and traffic built up on Dorchester Road.

She said: “It’s particularly the increase in large delivery vehicles.

“They are not delivering to Nottington so there’s no need for them to go through the village.

“I think they are using it to avoid the traffic and get through to the Granby Industrial Estate.

“I saw one go past and come back again an hour later so he had clearly gone to the Granby.”

Nottington residents have suffered from lorries blocking the routes through the village before.

Last September a lorry from the Chinese State Circus got jammed in one of the tight corners along Nottington Lane. Mrs Wood’s mother-in-law and neighbour Pat Wood said the trucks make it dangerous for pedestrians.

She said: “They are narrow roads with tight bends and no pavements.

“You would not push a child through there in a pram at tea time.

“It’s due to the roadworks at Morrison’s roundabout.”

She added: “You can understand why the traffic is coming here, but not the lorries.”

Anne Crabbe, 66, walks to Dorchester Road via Nottington from Radipole Lane every day.

She said she has seen lorries but feels the biggest problem is speeding and drivers using mobile phones.

She: “It’s ludicrous. It’s the speed more than anything.

“It’s just crazy and I just want people to be considerate.”

Lorry drivers with vehicles exceeding 7.5tonnes are warned not to use the route through Nottington by signs at three entry points.

The signs are placed at the junction of Nottington Lane and Dorchester Road, the junction of East Street and School Hill in Chickerell and at the blind summit junction on the B3157 coast road between Weymouth and Bridport.

PC Kevin Eames, of Weymouth’s Safer Neighbourhood team has been meeting the residents and working with colleagues to try and reduce the number of lorries using the route.

He said the signs are in place to protect bridges.

He said: “I understand the residents’ concerns because damage to any bridge in Nottington Lane would seriously add to the current traffic problems in Weymouth.

“A £60 fine and three points would be the minimum for using a vehicle which exceeded the weight limit.

“But there’s always the option for the driver to be reported for the offence and taken to court.”