TESCO has been told to resolve the traffic light problems at the entrance to its supermarket in Wey Hill.

The demand comes after complaints from residents, pedestrians and motorists about traffic chaos and dangers since the lights were first installed, when the store opened in 1999.

The bill is likely to be in the region of £90,000.

Surrey County Council has written to the store calling for remedial works, including the installation of pelican rather than zebra crossings. It also calls for work to be undertaken on the signals themselves to help in the control and priority of traffic movements of traffic.

"We are coming towards the end of a period of tolerance and people are starting to get a bit frustrated," Jeff Glassup, SCC's head of transportation development control, told The Herald this week.

Hoping that the situation can be solved in a "gentlemanly way", Mr Glassup acknowledged that there had been local concerns on the operation of the signals for some time and that SCC was now "actively talking to Tesco" about the problems.

He said that an automatic hi-tech control system consisting of magnetic loops within the road surface, which react to the amount of traffic using the road and alters the traffic lights accordingly, were not working.

"It could be that it has been installed in the wrong position," he said.

"It involves digging up the road, re-positioning the loops and then 'fine-tuning' the lights.

Mr Glassup said SCC had allowed Tesco to start trading in time for the run-up to Christmas in 1999 "as a gesture of goodwill" but because the lights were not completely satisfactory, the completion certificate was still unsigned.

Over the period of time SCC had tried to persuade Tesco to complete the remedial work required.

President of Haslemere Chamber of Trade Melanie Odell told The Herald that Wey Hill traders had been "very concerned" about the traffic lights.

Mrs Odell said that with many motorists finding other routes to avoid the congestion, especially during rush hour times: "Something needs to be done to stop Kings Road being used as a rat-run."

Last month Haslemere town councillor Jacquie Keen told the town council planning and highways committee that the new road layout was causing so much traffic chaos it was "an accident waiting to happen".

She claimed that a woman just managed to escape injury by flinging herself against a fence after a motorist mounted the pavement to get round a stationary bus in Wey Hill on the approach to the lights.

Deputy Mayor of Haslemere Stephen Mulliner said this week: "It's good news for the town that action is now being taken, we have been waiting for some time for a solution and it can't come earlier enough."

p A spokesman for Tesco said it had agreed to carry out the works which would take around six weeks to complete.