THE seemingly never-ending string of roadworks on Broughton Road, Skipton, have proved more than just a nuisance for Ogden's building suppliers who have been forced to close down because of lost trade.

Owner Dave Ogden said the long queues of traffic at temporary traffic lights inconvenienced his customers and other merchants so much that they went to shop elsewhere to avoid the congestion - and have never returned.

In addition, deliveries from the Clitheroe Street-based merchants, took up to 40 minutes longer each time the lights were in place, meaning many of them arrived late.

"We experienced losses of over £8,000 during one month period last year, as compared to the previous year when the road was open.

"We do not feel able to cope with such losses in the future," said Mr Ogden.

He said the problems started a couple of years ago when the council began its work to install traffic calming measures along Broughton Road, which included central islands, road narrowing and puffin crossing lights.

It also involved Transco being called out to do some work because of gas pipes running through some gullies.

Mr Ogden claimed this disruption lasted about a year.

When that was completed, Transco arrived in January 2002 to replace 500 metres of cast iron gas mains with new modern pipe. Temporary lights were installed along Broughton Road while the work was done.

The project was due to be completed by the end of March, but created weeks of misery for motorists forced to battle with the lights.

A couple of months later the lights re-appeared and Transco again began digging up the road, claiming the pipe laying work had to be completed in phases, but that this was the final stage.

At the time, businesspeople from places like Skipton Antiques and Collectors' Centre and the Y-bar complained about the loss in trade resulting from the queues of traffic, which backed up on Broughton Road and Cavendish Street.

Transco was followed by Yorkshire Electricity - now npower - in August 2002 which dug up the road as part of its £100,000 works to reinforce the electricity network in Skipton.

More than one and a half kilometres of cable was replaced between Clifford Court and Coach Street on Broughton Road.

Most recently Transco turned up again, dug the road up and re-installed temporary lights on Belmont Bridge to discover the cause of a gas leak.

Mr Ogden said he bought the business in June 1999 and had started to build up trade and a good reputation before the problems began.

He said that builders could not afford to waste time queuing in traffic jams and began to go elsewhere.

"Once they started going elsewhere they fell into a habit and you can't blame them for it," said Mr Ogden.

He noticed peaks and troughs in trade depending on whether there were roadworks on Broughton Road.

Mr Ogden, who is also a retained firefighter at Skipton, said the roadworks had been a problem for the fire service.

He claimed appliances had struggled to get out of the Broughton Road station and firefighters had been known to abandon their cars nearby and run to the station because of the traffic jams.

This summer's roadworks were the death knell for Ogden's because trade was so poor, during what are traditionally the busiest months, not enough money was made to see the family business through the winter.

Mr Ogden was disappointed at being forced to close because he said he had put in a lot of hours to ensure the business was a success.

He said he would have remained in business if trade had continued to grow at the rate it was before the roadworks.

He will continue with the sale of garden walling flags and bricks from new premises on Sawley Street. This will not rely on passing trade and are mainly sold wholesale to other merchants.

For the next couple of weeks the regular stock will be sold off at sale prices.