Road resurfacing work that has been dogged by delays and communication blunders finally got under way yesterday.

Residents in William Street in New Marston, Oxford, had been told to move their cars, so the work to repair hazardous potholes could start on Monday, and were warned that vehicles left in the street would be towed away.

They had initially been told the work would take place two months ago.

After a week without a sign of any contractors, people who had spent the week looking for alternative parking spaces finally gave up waiting and started parking outside their front doors again.

When contractors working for Oxford City Council arrived a week after the resurfacing was scheduled to start, repair work was again set back because of the parked cars. To add to the confusion, signs in William Street have given conflicting information about how long the repairs will take.

Margaret Gregory, of William Street, said: "We got a notice through our door on Monday saying the work would take at least three days to complete, but there is a sign half-way up the street saying it will take four weeks."

Andrew Burchett, technical support manager in the city works' department, said: "I hope the work will take about three days, but we do not know what we are going to find when we take the road surface up."