Apology for ‘faulty signals’ traffic chaos in Burnley

Motorists found themselves in gridlocked queues from early morning until nearly lunchtime, on the first morning of the new lights being switched on at the Barracks roundabout.

The problems sparked anger from motorists already frustrated by weeks of delays to the work and the promise the lights would ease traffic flow.

Graeme Leathard, principal engineer for Lancashire County Council, said: “We’re very sorry for the delays people experienced on Thursday morning at the Barracks roundabout.

“We activated the signals on Wednesday night and the programme we had put in place to change the signal timings worked well.

“However, the programme that the signals switched to on Thursday, tailored to the different demands of the morning traffic, did not work as intended, leading to the delays.

“The signals have now been reprogrammed and a team was on site during the Friday morning rush hour to make adjustments if necessary.”

The signals on the Mitre junction were also switched on on Thursday afternoon.