Traders in Ryedale claim they have lost thousands of pounds in business because of road resurfacing work along a busy shopping street.

Most of the work to resurface the road in Malton's Wheelgate was carried out last week and traffic flow is now back to normal.

But traders say customers were "put off" from coming into their shops while the work was carried out.

And they say signs warning the public about road closures were misleading because they indicated that work would only be carried out on four consecutive Sundays.

But a council highways chief says shopkeepers and residents were sent letters which informed them work would be carried out during the week.

Susan Little, who owns the food store Scoops in St Michael Street, told the Evening Press she had lost £1,000 in trade because of the roadworks.

"The shop was dead last week and I had to turn away two delivery vans because they couldn't get to my shop," she said.

"Usually I do a good trade this time of year, but when the roadworks started virtually no one came in - I just couldn't believe it, I've lost so much money.

"Many of my customers park their cars along Wheelgate and nip in to buy their shopping; but because they couldn't get parked, there was no way for them to get to my shop."

Mrs Little said signs placed around the town indicated that work would only be carried out on Sundays when most shops were closed.

"Many traders would have been happy for it to be carried out on Sundays because the work has to be done. I'm not alone, I've heard similar complaints from a number of other shopkeepers."

Meanwhile, Josie Mattinson, deputy manager at the Help The Aged charity shop in Wheelgate, said sales were down 50 per cent from the same week last year.

"It was very quiet last week; we hardly had any customers while the roadworks were being carried out," she said.

"Compared with the trade we normally do at this time of year, takings were definitely down. Wednesday last week was particularly bad; we hardly had any customers that day.

"A lot of people were put off by the noise from the roadworks and some just couldn't get parked.

"We have an open-door policy to make the shop more welcoming, so the noise was particularly bad and there was lots of dust coming in and sticking to our stock."

North Yorkshire County Council's divisional surveyor, Peter Renshaw, said shopkeepers and residents were given prior notice of the work.

He said: "Letters which were sent out made it quite clear that work would be carried out during the week.

"The signs which were placed around the town said that Wheelgate would be closed to traffic on four consecutive Sundays.

"We apologise for the inconvenience the work has caused, but the work had to be carried out."

reporters@ycp.malton.fsnet.co.uk