TRADERS in Gillygate are hoping for an early finish to maintenance work on the road, as the council's engineering chief revealed resurfacing work is ahead of schedule.

Businesses are counting the cost of lost trade due to the closure of the road, with some owners claiming the resurfacing could have been completed in single week.

Ray Chaplain, City of York Council head of engineering consultancy, said work was ahead of schedule, but would still take until next Friday to complete.

He said: "Today has gone very well. We have got the top material laid on the first half of the street.

"Everything went according to programme, in fact we are slightly ahead of programme and we got the works completed ahead of time. But we have got two weeks' worth of activity and there is a certain schedule of work needed each week."

Workmen yesterday finished resurfacing a section of the road from Bootham to Portland Street, as part of the work which has closed Gillygate from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, until November 11.

Trevor Fenwick, of Bubbles toy store, in Gillygate, said: "They finished stripping this part of the road by Wednesday afternoon so why didn't they carry on and finish the work? This could have been done in a week. Maybe they have allowed extra in case of problems that they have not come across, but the way it's going it could be done by the weekend."

Eileen Simmons, of Gillygate Framing, said: "It has been done quickly and I would have preferred it to all been done in a week. There are lots of little sole traders down here and it is going to hit us hard."

Meanwhile, York Hospital today urged visitors to use the council's Union Terrace car park instead of driving to the hospital to ease congestion on Wiggington Road.

A York Hospitals NHS Trust spokeswoman said: "If people are coming for appointments, the message is for people to leave themselves plenty of time."

Despite the fast pace of the resurfacing scheme, one workman was caught napping by a passer-by who snapped him snoozing.

A spokeswoman for City of York Council said: "We understand that the contractor in the photograph had started work at 3am in the morning and was 'off shift' approximately 12 hours later and taking a well-earned break when the picture was taken."

Updated: 10:55 Thursday, November 03, 2005