DRIVER John Brooks today called for action over a rural road between Weymouth and Dorchester that he has labelled a death trap.

He claims Portesham Hill - which is suggested by the police and council chiefs as a main diversionary route while work is carried out on Dorchester Road in Weymouth - is not being gritted in the recent spell of cold weather.

Mr Brooks, a school coach driver and taxi driver, who formerly worked as a civil engineer, also said failure to cut back overgrown bushes along the road was making driving hazardous.

He spoke at a meeting of the Weymouth and Portland public transport forum when members discussed Wessex Water's ongoing work at Broadwey.

Mr Brooks, chairman-elect of the Weymouth Station Taxi Association and transport spokesman for Weymouth and Portland Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said: "Many people are taking the suggested diversionary routes through Broadmayne or Portesham while these works are going on.

"If the county council is suggesting traffic should divert via Portesham maybe it should be making it easier to drive that way.

"The hedges have not been trimmed and the sides of vehicles are being scratched.

"Whether this is the responsibility of the farmers or the county council I don't know.

"The road is also not being gritted which is making it virtually impossible to climb Portesham Hill. It is a death trap for vehicles."

The county's assistant passenger transport manager Barry Thirlwall told the forum he would check out the complaint, while outside the meeting area highways manager for the county Malcolm Webb said: "The B3157 to Portesham and Bridport and the road over Portesham Hill to Winterbourne Abbas is a priority one route for gritting and I would be very concerned if it was not being done. It may be that the road has been gritted but drivers are not aware of this."

He added: "We may have to consider other scenarios such as frost over the gritting solution which makes the road slippery for a time."

The forum also heard from bus operator Rory Weaver who criticised the borough council's apparent failure to inform Western Traffic Commission-er Philip Brown of the works by Wessex.

He said Mr Brown was 20 minutes late to a recent transport meeting in Weymouth because he was held up by the roadworks.

Mr Weaver said: "He informed us that he was unaware the works were taking place and I believe it is the local authority that should have informed him."

The forum heard that councils worked closely with Mr Brown's department and borough engineering chief Martyn Gallivan said he would investigate the issue.

There were also calls to introduce measures to help traffic coming onto Dorchester Road from Weymouth Way while the work was carried out.

Motorists were facing heavy delays because Dorchester Road traffic has priority at Manor roundabout, members heard.