Shoppers stuck in Asda car park ‘for an hour’

FRUSTRATED supermarket shoppers were stuck ‘for an hour’ in a store car park because temporary traffic lights caused havoc on the road nearby.

The drama unfolded at the Asda store on Pilsworth Road in Pilsworth, Bury.

Customer Susie Walsh, 36, from Unsworth, said: “It was pandemonium. It was bumper to bumper in the car park. Nobody would give an inch.”

She said she reported it to the supermarket manager who appeared to speak to workmen at building works close to the store.

Temporary traffic lights have been put in place at a roundabout near the supermarket while the work continues, she said.

Susie added that the Asda manager spoke to workmen and the timings on the lights was changed, allowing the cars stuck in the car park to leave.

She said: “We were stuck for a good hour. There are four temporary traffic lights on the roundabout outside the supermarket. It was ridiculous. We only went to the pharmacy to get a prescription. It was a mistake. There were hundreds of cars all gridlocked.”

The car park gridlock appeared to have been released by 3pm on Thursday.

A spokesman for Bury council said a firm was laying electricity cables for a new development on the site. He said council officials had asked the firm to stop its work at the end of Thursday and come back in February during school half term, when the impact on traffic will be lessened.

A spokesman for contractors Power On Connections, which is working on the site, said: “We apologise for any disruption or inconvenience caused, as we always look to minimise this where possible.

“As a result of this morning, we have now closed down the works and temporally removed the traffic lights to restore normal traffic flow at the roundabout that was causing the congestion.”

Asda has been contacted for a comment.