A ‘TIMEBOMB’ is waiting to go off unless a barrier is put in place by a busy Trowbridge road where people are forced off the pavement, says a local businessman.

Steve Windsor, owner of She’s Coffee Lounge, in Stallard Street, says he regularly sees mobility scooter users, cyclists and pedestrians forced off the pavement and into the road, as they try to avoid each other as they come out of The Gateway complex or are walking along the pavement.

The 58-year-old unsuccessfully applied to Wiltshire Council to get an eight-metre-long barrier by the kerb outside his shop, so instead he installed a 1.5m wooden barrier at the entrance to the Gateway complex.

He says, however, that this will not solve the problem and that he will continue to pursue this for as long as necessary.

“ The problem has not gone away and it won’t until the barrier that I am trying to get put in place here is put up,” he said.

“When I put up this wooden structure, which is what Wiltshire Council wanted me to do, their officer said it was very good. People do have to slow down and get off bikes but if they head towards the road from the Gateway, the problem is still there. This is a timebomb that is just waiting to go off.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “ A two-way barrier with sufficient space for mobility scooters on the private land is a sensible option as it slows any cyclists down before they come out onto Stallard Street pavement, avoiding collision with pedestrians.

"Putting a barrier on the actual kerb here doesn’t avoid this scenario and we would advise businesses to work with us and the owners of the site to address the problem together