CONTRACTORS behind a closed road near the Grey Mare's Tail have been forced to rewrite their signs.

Because of Openreach cabling being laid near Moffat, the A708 road to Selkirk is closed in both directions for 10 days.

The daytime closures, between 9am and 5pm, started this week.

And businesses in the Yarrow Valley have already reported a major downturn in trade.

Although the closure on the Dumfries and Galloway side of the local authority boundary was expected to lead to a drop in visitors from the south-west, misleading signs from the other end of the road have hurt retailers and hoteliers further.

Closure signs placed in Selkirk, Traquair, Innerleithen, Tweedsmuir and at other minor roads leading onto the A708 don't indicate where the road is closed.

And, according to business owners in the valley, many tourists are performing u-turns rather than making their ways up to the scenic St Mary's Loch.

On Monday morning, the Glen Cafe next to St Mary's Loch had only served a handful of customers.

At the nearby Gordon Arms staff were also twiddling their thumbs.

Susan Cree from the Gordon Arms told us: "I went into Selkirk to see what the signs said and during the time I stopped there were two camper vans pulling up at the sign and about to turn around.

"They only continued up the valley after I told them where the road was closed.

"We've already had cancellations from people who were intending travelling from the Moffat side, and we are a lot quieter today than we would normally be.

"We appreciate that things have to get done but this is our busiest time of the year - this 10-day closure is in the middle of the holiday season."

Pre-warning signs about the closure led to businesses in the valley alerting Dumfries and Galloway to the misleading wording.

And they were promised that changes would be made ahead of the closures.

Susan added: "We wanted to lessen the impact as much as we could and the council said they would have the signage changed, but that hasn't happened.

"The sign at the crossroads outside the Gordon Arms is telling drivers not to go any further, yet there are businesses at St Mary's Loch and the road isn't closed until beyond Grey Mare's Tail."

The A708 will be closed at Camp Cottage until next Wednesday at the earliest.

Following complaints about the signs, Dumfries and Galloway held an emergency meeting with contractors.

And they have promised that new signs will be erected.

A spokesman for the local authority said: "A meeting has taken place with the contractor for the works on the A708.

"Following this meeting, new signage is being placed on the route by the contractor as a matter of urgency.

"The new signage will reflect the time that the closure is in place and the exact location of the closure."