MOTORISTS en route to Purbeck are braced for triple trouble as works on the Upton Bypass and Blandford Road clash with the scheduled Sandbanks Ferry refit.

D-day is Monday November 5 when the ferry is expected to come off its chains for a five-week Southampton dry dock refit. On the same day, 15 weeks of work on the A35 Upton bypass, between the Bakers Arms roundabout and Upton junction, also begins.

Not only that, both coincide with a ten-week engineering project to replace a Blandford Road water main.

The £1million bypass works are expected to cause considerable disruption. Cllr Peter Finney, Dorset County Council’s cabinet member for transportation urged people to “plan ahead, allow extra time and use different routes if possible.”

However, the double dose of bad timing has left some residents wondering why transport bosses couldn’t have done the same.

Summing up the mood, one frustrated motorist told the Daily Echo: “It is incredulous that organisations have not consulted each other over this – 36,000 cars normally use the Upton bypass. But with the Swanage Ferry out too, how many more cars will want to use it?”

Bournemouth-Swanage Motor Road & Ferry Company bosses say bad weather could push back the timings of the scheduled refit.

“At the moment the ferry is scheduled to be taken out of service on November 5,” explained a company spokesman. “But this is only provisional as the timings are governed by the sea state.”

Weather permitting, the 242ft Bramble Bush Bay, that can carry 48 cars per crossing, will be towed to dry dock in Southampton.