EXASPERATED Cricklade residents have banded together to stop constant lorry traffic that they say is wrecking their lives and homes.

The say they are watching their homes crumble away from the vibrations caused by the hundreds of lorries that pass through the town every day.

And campaigners claim those numbers are increasing because of expanding waste and gravel sites in the area.

It has become such a big issue that with just a few days’ notice, 50 volunteers turned out for a community-run lorry watch day to monitor the traffic.

More than 500 lorries were recorded within three hours in the town centre and campaigners are hopeful that this data will persuade Wiltshire Council to take action.

Purton Road resident Cathy Limbrick said she was so worried about the ‘38 tonne weapons’ knocking her two children over on the narrow roads that she has refused to let them walk the short journey to school.

“The lorries start at 4.30 in the morning so they wake people up,” she said.

“And they pass through with no thought for the fact that the noise and vibration is affecting people.”

She was one of many residents who complained that their house was showing cracks from the vibrations caused.

Caroline Hebberd said the lorries were making her life a misery.

She said: “When they go by the whole roof shakes and that’s where the walls crack.”

Campaigners want to put a stop to further gravel and waste site expansions in the area, from which the traffic problem has worsened.

They are hopeful data recorded in the 12-hour lorry watch last week will strengthen the case for a bypass that will deter drivers from using the town as a trunk route.

Following the guidance of Wiltshire Council, volunteers monitored the direction of travel, the type of vehicles and the freight it was carrying at six key points across the town.

Lorry watch organiser and town councillor John Harmer said while local business was a good thing, the increase in HGV traffic could impact on tourism in the historic Saxon town, which won Britain in Bloom last year.

“We don’t want to turn into a chocolate box town, but people are not going to come if there are trucks coming through rattling their coffee cups,” he said.

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “We are not aware of any issues with lorries causing damage to the roads or buildings in the Cricklade area.

“We advise the local community to pass its findings to the area board, who will look into its concerns.”