A WINCHESTER city councillor is calling for action to stop the chronic problem of traffic congestion in St George's Street caused by unloading delivery lorries.

The narrow road is regularly gridlocked because of vehicles causing a bottleneck.

Gerry Corden has put down a notice of motion at full council tonight, calling for a study on whether unloading can be banned at certain times.

Mr Corden, who represents the Upper Meon Valley, said: "It is infuriating. Every day it seems there are two or three lorries half on the pavement, unloading. It is scandalous it can be blocked so easily.

"St George's Street is the main artery through the city from east to west. Other cities seem to have enforcement orders. Why don't we?

"Recently I spoke to one driver. He had finished unloading and was sitting in a shop having a chat and a cup of tea. The traffic was queuing up. We nearly came to blows."

Mr Corden suggested a two-minute deadline for unloading to speed things up, and traffic wardens to patrol the street more often.

He said: "If it was easy to solve, it would have been solved, but we must try something."

The city council has looked at the problem in the past. The difficulty is that shops would be badly inconvenienced if deliveries were wedged into certain times.

Many shops are part of national chains, with delivery drivers coming from across the region and making numerous drops in a day. It would be almost impossible to deliver only at pre-arranged fixed times.