HARVEST time has brought tractor frustration to local roads; and farmers, Ledbury residents and police are all having their say.

Opinion is strongly divided, not least because modern tractors are larger and quicker than old-style tractors.

A number of Ledbury people have taken to Facebook with tales of recent tractor terrors or ordeals.

Farmers say such problems should be expected in rural areas at harvest time.

But over the border in Gloucestershire, police are telling farmers to pull over, to prevent long lines of traffic behind tractors.

Ledbury businesswoman, Melissa Boyle of "The Velvet Bean", posting on Facebook said: "I realise this is an immensely busy time of year for farmers and I have huge respect for your long hours and hard work but please note, your 30 tonne wall of steel on a single track road is a deadly and formidable force; please slow down a bit."

She told The Reporter: " I realise it is a very important job they have to do, especially at this time of year, but I really worry about their speed."

Her concerns have also been reflected by other local residents in Facebook posts.

But it seems to be traffic jams caused by tractors that are leading to the greatest frustrations.

One resident said: "A couple of weeks ago we were in a long line of traffic following a tractor towards Ledbury along the Hereford Road. He could have easily pulled in by the turning off to Ashperton to allow a few cars to pass, but instead, a driver in front of us got frustrated and attempted to overtake with an oncoming car approaching just ahead.

"It was purely luck that the lay-by near the van centre was there for him to quickly veer into, otherwise we probably would have seen an horrific head-on collision. The tractor man then trundled on blissfully unaware."

Another resident posted: "It took me 45 minutes to get to Hereford one Friday in a queue of traffic behind a tractor which I followed from Ledbury and he didn't pull over until the St Michael's Hospice bus stop."

Local livestock farmer, John Bishop, who lives at Petty France near Ledbury and farms at Cummings Farm, Colwall, said he had sympathy with motorists.

Speaking on Tuesday, as he prepared to move livestock by tractor, he said: "I do understand where the motorists are coming from; but do people want food, or don't they? Food doesn't appear on the supermarket shelves by magic. It is transported.

"We are in a rural area and this is harvest time. How on earth do people think we are going to move our products?"

But Mr Bishop said he knew that some tractor drivers could be "stubborn", and he said that tractor drivers should try to pull over if there is a dozen or eight cars behind the tractor.

Gloucestershire Constabulary, in a statement last Friday said: "We are asking tractor drivers and other slow moving vehicles to make a point of pulling into lay-by’s more often. Concern has been raised about slow-moving tractors holding up traffic. This risks tempting motorists to overtake when it is not safe to do so."

The spokesman added: “When tractors and other slow moving vehicles don’t pull over when they have the chance to do so, in order to let traffic past, they can cause obstructions and long tailbacks, and they may be committing an offence.”