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The road to chaos

I DECIDED to take my son to Savernake forest near Marlborough for a walk on Sunday as it was quite sunny. Big mistake.

At the bottom of Kingsbury Street where it joins Marlborough High Street we got stuck in three-way traffic lights for ages for roadworks. A few hundred yards later we were stuck in another set of three-way traffic lights on Salisbury Road for ages due to roadworks.

After our walk we went back down Salisbury Road and had to wait again at the same lights.

Being a clever kind of chap I decided to take the main road home and headed up Herd Street. Guess what - another set of three-way traffic lights halfway up the hill for roadworks too!

After negotiating these and going down the hill towards Swindon we were stopped less than a mile later by yet another set of lights for roadworks by Ogbourne Maizey.

To get off the main roads I decided to head along the back roads through Chiseldon and turned to go past Hodson down Broome Manor Lane and... the road is closed for 26 days for roadworks!

Makes you proud to be British. And yet our roads are still the most disgusting and worst maintained in the Western World.

Roger Lack, North Swindon

Control your dogs

As I have been doing for five months trying to lose a bit of weight and get a bit fitter by walking around the park, I have bought myself a yearly car park pass for Lydiard Park and go there six or seven times a week.

On Saturday I was put in fear for my safety and others - there were children running around - as quite close by an unleashed dog took it upon itself to go for me, growling and snarling and making me jump out of the way of it because I thought it was going to bite me.

Its owner, who was 10ft away from it, said to the slobbering hound “Oh you are a naughty boy.”

If this had happened to a child and, being right by the main road, and it ran away from the dog right into the road... well it does’nt warrant thinking about.

Again earlier into my walk I came across four or five loose dogs all running around chasing each other, having a great time but all across the snowdrops and planted bulbs with great big signs saying please keep off the planted areas.

There is a grassed massive field away from the planted areas where your out of control animals can run themselves ragged and not destroy a single plant.

Why can you not keep your out of control animals on a lead until you are in open space away from the buildings, or better still put a muzzle on them.?

This is not a one off - I have been subjected to this sort of thing on a few occasions now. I am hoping we do not get to hear of anything worse happening. They are your animals keep control of them - the park is not just your private walking space.

John L Crook, Haydon Wick, Swindon