Motoring mayhem descended on Kendal when an electrical glitch threw the town's traffic lights out of sync causing vehicles to back up at peak times.

Cumbria County Council contractors Capita Infrastructure Consultancy (CIC) fielded a number of complaints from angry drivers over three days last week because of the long delays.

One of the worst hit areas was Library Road with some motorists spending upwards of 45 minutes in a queue as they attempted to reach the Stricklandgate junction.

"The system controlling the traffic lights at the northern end of the town centre stopped working correctly," said Rob Lawley, CIC's principal consultant. "Each of the sets of signals were working independently of each other and this

prevented the optimum throughput of traffic."

Meanwhile, South Lakeland District Council contractors added to the problems of businesses on Library Road by turning up unannounced last Wednesday morning to carry out road resurfacing work outside the premises of joiners, building contractors and funeral directors GF Martindale & Sons Ltd.

"It was log-jam down here. You couldn't get in or out," said managing director Jonty Martindale. "We couldn't trade effectively because we couldn't receive deliveries, access our fuel tanks or store or use the small parking area that is essential to us."

SLDC's agency and construction manager Phil Turner admitted there had been a mistake.

"We had reprogrammed the work early in the year but because of circumstances we had to delay it and failed to send out the notices."

April 9, 2003 10:00