Standstill for drivers

Thousands of drivers were brought to a standstill by roadworks which caused mayhem on roads around the Black Country and Staffordshire today.

Cars were bumper-to-bumper as frustrated rush-hour motorists spent more than an hour without moving an inch amid chaos around the A449 last night and this morning.

But although the traffic cones for the Severn Trent Water works had been laid out, there was not one workman in sight this morning.

Bosses at Severn Trent today apologised for delays which they blamed on temporary lights being out of sequence. They said workmen were due to arrive at the site this morning.

The lights were set up ahead of a four-week-long job to renew mains pipes at the junction of Himley Road, near Dudley, and the A449 Wolverhampton to Kidderminster Road at Himley.

Severn Trent said the sequencing of temporary traffic lights had been approved by Staffordshire County Council.

Highways experts will be working to resolve the problems today and may alter the traffic lights system at junctions between Dudley Road, Wolverhampton Road and Kingswinford Road.

The jams made thousands of people late for work, delayed school buses and left taxi drivers and delivery firms behind schedule.

Office worker Tim Hamblin, of Bilbrook, said his usual 35-minute journey to work took more than an hour-and-a-half today. "It is as bad as I have ever known it and I did not see any workmen at all," he said.

Queues were heavy along the Himley Road, with queues tailing back to routes in Kingswinford, Wall Heath and Gornal Wood.

Staffordshire Highways spokesman Jeremy Herbert admitted the authority had agreed the sequence – but said it was Severn Trent's responsibility to minimise any unnecessary disruption.