A furious garage owner says he could be forced to shut his business if gridlock caused by lengthy roadworks drags on any longer.

Hassan Refare, owner of Ashford Kent Tyres on Orbital Park in Sevington, says major works on the A2070 Bad Munstereifel Road have had a huge impact on his trade since contractors started in May.

The Orbital Park roundabout has been ripped out and engineers are in the final stages of replacing it with a traffic light-controlled junction.

But since Tuesday morning, new temporary traffic lights have sparked waits of up to 45 minutes from either side, something Mr Refare says has driven customers away.

"If it stays like that we will have to shut our business," he said.

"We don’t have enough income to pay our bills or our rent.

"I can carry one, two or three quiet days, it's a business sometimes it's busy sometimes it's not, but to not be busy for months at a time because of roadworks, I’m not sure I could carry on.

"A customer called me saying it will take about 40 minutes to reach me from Ashford, all of them are complaining about the traffic, that’s why we are losing business now.

"Everywhere in Ashford is difficult now to drive, we hope they sort it out as soon as they can."

The temporary lights installed earlier this week resemble how the completed junction, known as the 'Bellamy Gurner' project, will look.

But timing issues with the four-way signals have again caused stop-start traffic on all approaching routes.

A spokesperson for housebuilder Crest Nicholson, which built the nearby Finberry estate and is funding the A2070 works, said: “The temporary traffic signals have been installed to allow for the completion of the remaining traffic islands for the new junction and subsequent installation and commissioning of the permanent traffic signals for the junction.

"As with any installation of temporary traffic signals there will invariably be timing issues to be resolved and as such our contractor is undertaking manual control of the signals between 7am and 9.30am and also between 3.30pm and 6pm while our contractor optimises the timings on the temporary traffic signals.

“With regards to the permanent traffic signals, the configuration of these will permit improved traffic flow as eastbound and westbound traffic can travel at the same time with vehicles wishing to make right hand turns into either Waterbrook Avenue or The Boulevard being held in dedicated right hand turn lanes.

"The permanent traffic signals will also incorporate and utilise traffic detection loops which will be installed in the carriageway surface and allow the signals to control the timings dependent upon the volume of traffic on any given carriageway.

"We thank local residents for their patience.”

Work on the major redesign was supposed to finish in October but delays blamed on Operation Brock and issues at the Port of Dover means it has been pushed back several times.

It is now on track to finish in mid-February.

The project is being carried out by National Highways and FM Conway, not Kent County Council.

In a statement, Harish Popat, National Highways programme delivery manager, said: “We thank road users for their patience and understanding while we create a new signalised junction on the A2070 in place of the existing Orbital Park roundabout and Avocet Way junction.

"This work is part of the new Finberry housing development and when complete, will increase capacity for both pedestrians and road users.”