A fruit and veg haulier says the closure of the A2 for resurfacing could seriously damage his business.

Company boss Vaughan Howland fears his lorries could be delayed and sent on costly diversions because of the work, which involves closing the coastbound carriageway between Brenley Corner and Canterbury on October 3 for nine weekends.

It will mean no access to Boughton or Dunkirk from the sliproad off the A2 near the roundabout.

The official diversion will take Dover-bound traffic down the Thanet Way to Manston and back to the port via the Sandwich and Whitfield by-passes.

Mr Howland, 76, who has run the family business from a depot at Dunkirk for 40 years, says the Highways Agency has not spoken to him and he has been left to find his own solution.

"We have long-avoided going via Boughton village because it’s not fair to have 44-tonne lorries rumbling through and potentially getting stuck but it looks like we are going to have to find our way around the lanes from the Brenley roundabout" - Vaughan Howland

He operates a fleet of eight lorries with 16 vehicle movements every day of the week, usually in the evenings and early hours carrying fresh produce to Spitalfields market.

He said: “We will be able to get out all right by going down the old road to Harbledown, but getting back to Dunkirk when the A2 coastbound is shut is going to cause us a right headache.

“We have long-avoided going via Boughton village itself because it’s not fair to have 44-tonne lorries rumbling through and potentially getting stuck.

“But it looks like we are going to have to find our way around the lanes from the Brenley roundabout and come back through past the golf club to try and get back via the village, with all the issues that could raise.

“There is also the potential problems of drivers going over their tacho hours if they have to take diversions. I don’t think the Highways Agency has thought this through. It will cause all sorts of problems for lots of people trying to run a business.

“They haven’t even had the courtesy of contacting us to try and help resolve the problem.”

Ponnudurai Ranjan, the owner of the Texaco garage on the A2 between Brenley and Canterbury, said he feared his business would lose thousands of pounds because the filling station would effectively be cut off by the road closure.

The Highways Agency says it examined a variety of options to manage the work but considered the weekend closures - from 8pm on Friday until 6am on Monday - to be the best solution to minimise disruption.

Dunkirk parish council chairman John Peto said: “It’s certainly not an ideal solution and will cause problems for local people getting about. I can see all sorts of jams happening in country lanes, but I guess it’s a necessary evil and we will just have to put up with it.”