RESIDENTS and traders have launched a petition calling for action after claiming cracks in their walls have been caused by lorries rumbling past.

They said homes and businesses in Bolton Road, Blackburn, were being shaken to their foundations due to heavy goods vehicles hitting bumps and holes in the road.

Now a 55-signature petition has been submitted calling for Blackburn with Darwen Council to resurface the road.

The petition, which has been handed to the council by Coun Maureen Bateson, states: 'Does your home vibrate when heavy traffic passes? Are your walls cracked? This is due to the poor state of the road, which is full of holes and dips. The council is not prepared to do anything about the road in the near future. Will your home stand up to constant shaking?'

In a letter to chief executive Graham Burgess, Coun Bateson said: "We have witnessed the damage for ourselves and the impact of vibrations when heavy goods vehicles hit certain sections of the road.

"We can also see the way the road dips and subsides in places."

Traders and members of the Ewood Community Association are also backing the campaign.

Abdul Patel, who runs Ewood Newsagents opposite Ewood Park, said: "It has affected us for a long time.

"We've had cracks appear in the our walls. The council can't be bothered in this area. Something needs to be done."

Coun Florcence Oldfield, who has previously campaigned for road repairs in that area, said: "It used to be a big problem a few years ago.

"There was an elderly lady whose house used to shake with the lorries going past. She has since passed away, but it sounds like the new owners are having the same problems.

"A lot of materials and pipes under the road have just given way."

Officers said the link between the condition of the road and the effects on nearby houses had 'not been fully proven'.

However an 850 metre stretch of Bolton Road, from nos 368 to 445, had been identified for maintenance by engineers as part of a £210,000 rolling programme of local highways resurfacing, funded by the Local Transport Plan.