A CONTROVERSIAL new park and ride roundabout, where motorists have claimed they were in danger of having a serious accident, is to be altered.But a worried county councillor warned he still expected the problems to increase when the park and ride in Martlesham starts operating on November 12.

A CONTROVERSIAL new park and ride roundabout, where motorists have claimed they were in danger of having a serious accident, is to be altered.

But a worried county councillor warned he still expected the problems to increase when the park and ride in Martlesham starts operating on November 12.

Traffic lights have been installed at the roundabout at the junction of the A12 and A1214 and new lanes have been introduced in an attempt to make the traffic run smoothly and to cater for the construction of a new junction with the park and ride site.

There are also new lights on the A1214 to direct buses in and out of the multi-million-pound scheme.

However, irate motorists have complained about the roundabout design and urged highways officers to take a drive and witness for themselves the difficulties.

The county council admitted there was a problem for vehicles trying to go into Old Martlesham and they would take out one of three lanes.

One motorist, who asked not to be named, said: "You have to be in the outside lane to turn right into Martlesham and then try to get your car into the inside lane on the roundabout for the turn-off.

"The angles are so acute that most people have to go in the middle lane and then cut up those who have managed to get in the correct lane. Once the buses are running there are going to be so many accidents if nothing is done to correct this error."

Martlesham parish clerk, Lynne Lodge, said she would point out the problems to the council. "If you want to turn right into Old Martlesham, it is impossible without appearing to do a dangerous manoeuvre. I do not think it has been well thought out and I do not think it is as clear as it should be," she added.

John Kelso, Martlesham county councillor, said he had seen near-misses on the roundabout and added: "Obviously, it is new and it will take time to settle down.

"When the cars start coming out of the car park they will receive priority over everybody else on the roundabout, then I certainly envisage traffic maybe queuing back on the A12 to the Tesco roundabout."

A county council spokeswoman said the traffic flow had been studied when the lights were commissioned.

"We noticed that the traffic going into Old Martlesham was having trouble filtering through, so we are planning to hatch the nearside lane to make the roundabout two lanes at this point," she added.

"There are no lights coming on to the roundabout from Old Martlesham as drivers coming on to the roundabout at this point have an opportunity while the lights are red at the preceding two sets of lights to enter the roundabout."