ANGRY residents living near half-finished road works in Weymouth claim they are being kept up all night by rumbling traffic.

Families living on the busy A354 Dorchester Road said they have not been able to sleep since the tarmac was ripped up, leaving six-inch high manhole covers and drains for traffic to drive over.

They claim work on resurfacing the highway has not started for more than a week after the old surface was taken up and is set for more delays over the weekend.

David Woods, 73, who lives at the junction of Mill Street and the highway, said: "We have now been a week with this situation.

"My neighbours and I are begging for a good night's sleep.

"The noise from trucks going over the lumps is terrible."

He added: "There is debris all over the road, due to the fact that these enormous great vehicles are thundering along. Engineers should have introduced a temporary speed limit.

"I understand the work is going to start tomorrow, but will not continue over the weekend.

"The situation is very poor and could have been avoided."

Former media consultant Mr Woods said he was told by Dorset County Council contractors only have one machine to do the work and it has been diverted to resurface a minor B road at Waddock Cross near Bovington.

He said: "I do not think that anyone can say a B road should be prioritised before an A Road. I blame the county council for this - it has all been very badly planned."

His neighbour Joan Marchant, 64, said: "The road is very hard to cross now with vehicles weaving between the manhole covers." Shelley Jefferies, 50, who has lived on Dorchester Road for three years, said: "The noise is horrendous. With so many drains and manholes raised at the moment, the traffic is just crashing through them." She added: " I appreciate I live on a busy road but the noise is just unbearable. I cannot remember the last time I slept the whole night."

Mrs Jefferies said residents were told the work would take three weeks.

"Since the surface was taken off over a week ago there hasn't been anybody up here at all. I want to see the work completed," she said.

Jerry Gerlach of Dorset Engineering Consultancy, which is behind the project, said the work would be carried out by Monday November 22.

He said the surfacing machine had been diverted from Dorchester Road because of a road closure at the Waddock Cross road renewal scheme.

Mr Gerlach said: "A road closure carries greater priority for our engineers.

"We are resuming work on the Dorchester Road today."