A taxi firm has seen bookings plummet while a bus company has suspended services as a town’s traffic problems continue.

Drivers found themselves travelling at a crawl for the second evening in a row in Sittingbourne yesterday as road closures continue to cause “terrible” delays.

During rush hour, queues have backed up from the lane closure on the A249 heading towards Sheppey which has been put in place during the Grovehurst Road Improvement works, which are being led by Kent County Council (KCC).

The eight-day closure of the Kingsferry Bridge – one of the two routes onto the Island – is also causing problems as drivers can no longer go through Iwade to avoid the traffic heading towards the Sheppey Bridge.

It is estimated that 20% of traffic uses the Kingsferry bridge which is undergoing “urgent” repair work by Network Rail. That started on Friday.

A Network Rail spokesman said the repairs would avoid a “sudden” and “disruptive unplanned” closure over the winter.

Meanwhile, KCC says it has brought in new measures to “alleviate some of the disruption” including refusing any new non-urgent roadwork requests until the end of the bridge closure.

Yesterday, a crash also exacerbated problems which saw the A249 northbound become partially blocked near the Bobbing roundabout.

Let's Go Green Cabs, based in Sittingbourne, apologised to its customers waiting for their taxis during what it called “gridlock”.

Kevin Smith, office manager at the taxi firm, said that he had no bookings today when they normally have around 40 to 50 between 3pm and 5pm – their busiest time of day.

He said: “Since the Kingsferry Bridge was shut, the traffic has been terrible. Our customers and drivers are having to sit in traffic and there’s nothing we can do about it.

“Our customers are cancelling their taxis because they are too late. They are also seeing their fares rise to what is an extortionate price as they are still spending time in the taxi.

“Most people are understanding as they know there’s nothing we can do but they are turning up to wherever they need to go late.

“People are still taking taxis but those people are having to fork out more rather than us being able to do the normal amount of jobs and that cost being spread out.

“It would have been better for the works on the bridge to be done in the summer holidays when there is no school traffic.

“Thankfully it’s only for a few more days but there is another closure coming soon.”

Swale bus operator Chalkwell has suspended 12 of its services until the end of the bridge closure.

See the post below for the full list of suspended services

It said in a social media post this afternoon: “Unfortunately, due to the heavy traffic relating to the Kingsferry Bridge closure, we will be suspending a few services for the rest of this week.”

Roland Eglinton, who is managing director of Chalkwell which runs services across Swale, told KentOnline yesterday that the traffic situation “is inconvenient to our customers, and it comes at a cost in terms of fuel and wages”.

School children have been left sitting on buses for hours as they try to get home to the Island.

Commuters at Sheppey train stations have also been left stranded as rail replacement buses could not get on to the Island.

A Kent County Council (KCC) spokesperson said: “We understand how frustrated people living and working in the area feel about the severe traffic delays they have experienced this week while work continues on three major road schemes near Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey.

“Our teams have been working closely with Network Rail since they announced their plans to carry out urgent work to replace the steel ropes that lift the Kingsferry Bridge and we have put in measures to reduce the impact on traffic.

“These have included making sure that there are no other planned roadworks permitted in the area and part funding with Network Rail an additional bus.

“Our priority is to keep road users safe and it is not possible to remove the traffic management from the A249 or the Sheppey-bound A249 entry slip at Grovehurst Road because works are currently under construction and it is not safe to open them up to road users.

“However, to alleviate some of the disruption, we have extended the area of free recovery for broken down vehicles on the A249 – which exacerbated the traffic delays in the area this week - and we are placing recovery vehicles along the route.

“We are also declining all further requests for non-emergency roadworks in the area for the duration of the closures of the Kingsferry Bridge. Our highways inspectors are closely monitoring local roads to ensure any emergency works required by utility companies are known and completed as quickly as possible.

“Partners from the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum, including KCC and Network Rail, are taking this matter extremely seriously and meeting regularly to ensure risks of disruption are identified and managed as best as possible.

“We understand people may be anxious or frustrated about journey times taking longer and our advice remains to check travel times before you set off while these essential works are taking place.”

A Network Rail spokesman said: “We know that the impact of the Kingsferry Bridge closure this week, as well as a crash and a broken down vehicle in the area on Monday night, meant that there were delays for motorists’ and bus passengers’ journeys.

“We’re grateful to people for their patience as we complete these urgent repairs. Making these essential repairs now avoids us having to put in place a sudden and much more disruptive unplanned closure over the winter.

“By doing the work in summer, the risk of Sheppey Crossing, as the alternative route to the island, closing due to high winds is also significantly reduced.”