Motorists trapped for two hours as lights knocked out
FAMILIES were trapped in their cars for up to two hours after traffic light cables were broken during roadworks in Southport town centre.
Drivers suffered long delays as they attempted to leave car parks in Tulketh Street last weekend.
The exits to both of the council run car parks and the multi-storey above Sports Direct became jammed as the traffic lights failed to let enough cars through.
Angry motorists reported being trapped for hours as they attempted to travel a few hundred yards to the Eastbank Steet junction.
Many feared they would receive parking fines for being unable to leave the multi-storey car park within the 20 minutes allowed after payment.
The council has now revealed that the problem was caused by traffic light detector cables being damaged during road maintenance and dispatched engineers to fix the problem.
Eastbank Street was closed overnight for two weeks from October 15 for resurfacing work, which is believed to have caused the damage.
Many of the frustrated drivers took to social media to vent their at Sefton Council for the delays. One Twitter user wrote: “Tulketh Street traffic lights fiasco has cost me an extra £20 in lunches. You must be keen to destroy the centre of Southport.
“I will be going to Liverpool from now on. Why is no one here fixing this?”
Another wrote: “After numerous calls this week, the traffic light issue affecting Tulketh street and its car parks still hasn’t been resolved. No access for emergency services & people are stuck for 45mins-1hr”
Others called for Merseyside police to send a traffic officer to help release the cars after a spokesman confirmed that the force was aware of the problem and had contacted the council.
A spokesman for Sefton Council said: “An unavoidable consequence of carriageway improvement works on both Eastbank Street and Tulketh Street has meant that some damage was caused to traffic light detector cables.
“This has led in some cases to congestion during busy hours and contractors are working on fixing this issue as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused.”