Faulty traffic lights blamed for mile-long tailbacks and rush-hour delays on A6 in Chorley

A mile-long queue greeted commuters travelling on the A6 in Chorley this morning after a fault with the traffic lights near the hospital and M61.

Congested traffic stretched northbound from B&Q in Preston Road to the Hartwood Hall roundabout, near the junction with Euxton Lane.

The delays are being blamed on faulty traffic lights at the roundabout, with two sets of lights appearing to be out of sync.

The problem is causing delays and congestion for motorists heading to Euxton and Buckshaw Village, as well as visitors to Chorley Hospital and those joining the M61.

Trapped motorists could be seen queuing across the roundabout near the Hartwood, blocking traffic from leaving or entering the junction at Euxton Lane.

A frustrated commuter, from Adlington, said: "Traffic is queuing northbound, from the roundabout at Hartwood Hall and along Preston Road back to B & Q.

"It's taken me about 25 minutes to get through the lights to the motorway.

"It seems to be the lights sequencing again - on both roundabouts.

"It's absolute chaos. People are getting really fraught and are honking and shouting at each other. But there's nowhere to go.

"The lights go red and then green and then red again, trapping people in between."

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Another exasperated motorist, C.J. Green, added: "It's a joke to be honest. It happens almost every single day and yet nothing seems to be planned to correct the issue.

"The sequencing on the roundabout is too short and doesn't allow the traffic to get past and onto the motorway from that small roundabout near the hospital to the M61."

A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said: "We have received reports about problems with the sequencing of the traffic lights, which we suspect began following a loss of power supply which affected the system controlling the lights.

"Our contractors began working on the issue at around 11am this morning and the lights are now working again."

The sequencing problem is a recurring fault with the lights at the roundabout.

In March, Lancashire County Council made urgent repairs to the same lights after reports of hour-long delays on the approach to the roundabout.

The same fault caused further delays for commuters and hospital visitors in June.

Lancashire County Council dispatched engineers to the scene to repair the signalling system and assured motorists that the issue had been fixed.