Chaos on the roads as M8 drama and race spark misery for drivers

THOUSANDS of Glasgow drivers were affected by traffic chaos yesterday as several road closures caused havoc across the city.

With thousands of people travelling to Glasgow for the weekend’s Great Scottish Run, the city’s roads were busier than usual.

From the early hours of Sunday morning, traffic was ground to a halt as police closed a section of the M8 to deal with concerns for an individual. Officers and negotiators were at the scene from before 7am on Sunday as a stretch of road between junction 15 and 16 was closed in both directions for several hours.

A 20-year-old man was later taken to Glasgow Royal Infirmary after the incident for assessment.

The road later reopened as thousands of runners made their way into the city, with traffic building from 8am.

In a statement, Police Scotland said: “We don’t take the decision to close a major route such as this lightly.”

However, with a number of roads closed due to the race, diversions were in place causing headaches for car-owners across Glasgow.

Hanover Street in the city centre has been closed since early on Saturday morning and could continue to be closed until later this afternoon.

George Square was also shut off to traffic for the entire weekend, only reopening on Sunday afternoon.

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A further four city centre streets were closed throughout Saturday and Sunday.

Much of Argyle Street, Hope Street and Renfield Street, as well as Dumbreck Road and Paisley Road, were part of Sunday’s closures.

In total, more than 50 roads, as well as five of Glasgow’s bridges, experienced closure on Sunday, with public transport massively affected, causing disruption to a number of bus services.