Major road closed 18 hours for city funeral
MORE than 200 mourners attended a funeral that closed a major road for more than 18 hours in Cardiff.
Rover Way was closed ahead of yesterday morning’s funeral for Wesley Sykes.
Initially, the authorities said the road was closed from shortly after 5pm on Wednesday because of an obstruction.
Yesterday morning, a procession left the Rover Way travellers’ site and headed to St Margaret’s Church in Roath for a service, before proceeding to Pantmawr cemetery, near Rhiwbina.
Cardiff council leader Huw Thomas said that the person who died was young and had passed away in “exceptionally tragic” circumstances.
He said: “It is understood that the circumstances relating to the young person who passed away were exceptionally tragic and members of the travelling community have travelled far and wide to attend.”
South Wales Police said they had been told about the funeral but that it was larger than expected.
A spokesman said that the decision to close the road was taken for “public safety reasons”.
Some motorists reported that short journeys took them more than two hours after the main road between east Cardiff and Cardiff Bay was closed on Wednesday evening.
There were long queues near the cemetery in Rhiwbina after the service as the mourners returned to Rover Way.
A police spokesman said: “The authorities had been told a funeral was taking place, although were not aware of the large scale of the event, which only came to light on Wednesday evening. Both the police and the council appreciate this incident has caused a significant amount of inconvenience, and motorists and other road users are thanked for their continued patience.”
Rover Way re-opened just before 1.30pm yesterday.