Motorists stumbled into roadworks because road closure signs were not put up.

A major route between Grange Moor and Colne Bridge is closed this week for resurfacing.

Kirklees Council has arranged for the busy B6118 Bellstring Lane to be re-covered for free after contractors agreed it had worn out too soon.

The accident blackspot road has been closed a number of times for safety works in the past two years, including for anti-slip coatings on the worst bends.

This week’s closure is for ‘surface dressing’ – a technique of covering the road with chippings and tar to prolong its life.

Bellstring Lane, Kirkheaton closed for resurfacing.

But driving instructor and Mirfield Tory councillor Vivien Lees-Hamilton has been left angry over how the roadworks were organised.

When the works started on Monday, she said one of her students had been forced to do a u-turn after approaching the major works from Thornhilll without seeing any warning signs.

“It was chaos with drivers having to turn around,” she said.

Video Loading

“I told my student to park up and I went to speak to the lads at the roadworks.

“I asked one of them why there were no signs and he said there weren’t any.

“I asked him why there weren’t any and he said: ‘Because there aren’t.’

Mirfield Councillor Vivien Lees-Hamilton
Mirfield Councillor Vivien Lees-Hamilton

“I said I knew that but asked him why. He said he didn’t know and I should ask the council.

“I said I was the council or, at least, a councillor and suddenly his demeanour changed.”

Clr Lees-Hamilton said she had been on a council scrutiny panel that looked into highways contracts.

At the time the panel discovered that contractors hired by the council to do works often contracted out signage work to another company, giving the council no control.

Bellstring Lane, Kirkheaton closed for resurfacing.

Clr Lees-Hamilton said the panel made a recommendation to the ruling Cabinet that contractors should not be allowed to hand out separate contracts and that had been accepted.

She said she would be asking the council what had happened with Bellstring Lane.

The roadworks are scheduled to last until Friday and will take place between 9.30am and 3.30pm.

The Examiner has approached Kirklees Council for a comment.