MORE than 2,000 shoppers so far are backing protests by two New-port superstores who say bus lanes are hitting their trade.

Sainsbury's and Iceland have united in protest against the lanes at Shaftesbury and Chepstow Road.

The moves are worrying for a town actively trying to improve its image and attract more shoppers

Sainsbury's has collected 2,500 signatures in less than a week on a petition objecting to the new bus lane outside their store, on Wyndham Street, which they say has made access "very difficult and dangerous".

Now, the Iceland store on Clarence Place has given its full backing to the campaign because of the effect works on the Chepstow Road bus lane are having on their trade. Simon Lean, manager of the Sainsbury's store, said: "The problem is that since the bus lane started being put in, the traffic flow in Newport has basically stopped.

"The entrance into our store and the exit are a nightmare at peak times. It took ten to 15 minutes to get out of the car park at 2pm on Wednesday.

"I appreciate some of that is to do with the roadworks where they are putting another lane in, but this is a peak time of year for us coming up to Christmas and the roadworks are going to go on into December.

"Over 2,500 people have signed our petition which shows the strength of feeling. "We objected to the plans in January and they changed the design, but it's the implementation that's causing the problem.

"We just want a discussion with Newport council about it so we can explain to our customers what's going on."

Store manager at Iceland, Steven Flynn, said: "We've signed the petition on behalf of Iceland and are right behind them, even though they are our competitors.

"We are 20 per cent down compared to last year and I will be laying staff off soon - although I should have been taking on more for Christmas - because we've got more staff that customers.

"We didn't think it would affect us at all, but they pulled all the pavement up last week and blocked off our car park from the main road.

"There will still be congestion when the lane is finished because other traffic will only have one lane."

Appliance sales manager Liz Smith added: "My sales have halved and I've had so many telephone calls from people who don't want to come down and view our products."

A Newport council spokeswoman said: "The bus lanes are being implemented as part of a local transport plan which was subject to full public consultation."