IMPATIENT drivers have been using a residential Bolton street to avoid the traffic lights at the busy junction of Green Lane and Bradford Road. Instead, they have been using Greenland Road to get through to the Royal Bolton Hospital site as a quick way to Plodder Lane.

When Bolton Council put up a barrier to block off part of Greenland Road, drivers started cutting through nearby Oakleigh Avenue. Now, local residents claim that the barrier was in the wrong place and they want Greenland Road partly closing and "access only" for Oakleigh Avenue.

Not only are these drivers selfish and potentially dangerous, given the residential nature of the roads concerned, but the fact that they are also using the hospital route as a cut-through is deplorable

In the wake of the Royal Infirmary closure, this area is busier now that all hospital services are centred on one site. Inevitably, there is more traffic in this part of Farnworth and there have been alterations to the road system to account for it.

However, we hope that the Council respond with a ban on the use of these residential roads as a "rat run", and that the police or the Hospitals Trust can find a way to prevent drivers cutting through the hospital's grounds

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