Anger over 96-mile diversion for ‘unnecessary’ A75 road closures

Liz Hitschmann, also of Gatehouse of Fleet, campaigns alongside Ms Brownlee and has seen the impact of the closure first hand.

She said: “On the first night that the closure happened, there were no diversion signs in place, so the lorries were queued up all the way from Auchenlarie right the way back to Gatehouse which is some two to three miles.

“And then because the lorries didn’t know where to go they were coming through Gatehouse, which is not really made for lorry traffic, and that in itself caused a lot of problems.

“The fact that they weren’t notified and the signage wasn’t ready, and even now the signage is very small and totally inadequate.”

She said she felt the closures were “totally unnecessary” and a convoy system could have been used.

Mike Edwards lives on a minor road near the A75 and he said he had seen an increase in drivers using it as an alternative route “bang-on” when the road closure started.