A BUS company boss has vented his frustrations over a major roadworks scheme which is finished - but the cones and barriers remain in place.

Morebus boss Andrew Wickham has hit out at the A35 Upton Bypass works, calling for more urgency and claiming to have rarely seen any workforce at the site.

Despite the fact the works have now been completed, a road closure remains in place while the equipment waits to be cleared.

Mr Wickham said: “I latest I heard was work was complete but they are waiting for traffic management to be removed, the cones and barriers are still there.

“It’s further delays for our customers and journeys are taking longer. The Breezer 40 takes longer to get up to Upton.

“We understand work has to happen, we’re big enough to understand that, but why does it need to take so long?

“This latest thing is another delay that there’s no urgency to get it cleared.

“I was speaking to someone who works at Poole Hospital, they work long hours and then this holds them up every day.

“It’s about modifying behaviour to get this sort of thing done more urgently. It could be that they’ve just moved on to another job but it all seems a bit slow.”

The works have been going on since before Christmas. Mr Wickham said the Purbeck Breezer 40 has to divert to access Upton, which means a longer journey for customers and the Morebus x8 is delayed in evening peak traffic leaving Poole.

SGN have been undertaking gas works on the road which means the A35 Upton Bypass has had to close.

An SGN spokesperson said: “Our upgrade work on the A35 has now been completed.

“Due to the size and weight of the concrete barriers on our work site, specialist machinery is required in order to remove them.

“This is scheduled for Tuesday, March 1 and a road closure will be in place while this is carried out.

“The A35 will then fully reopen once the barriers have been safely removed. We’d like to thank the local community for their continued patience.”