MOTORISTS have been finding themselves caught out in infuriating queues after repeated traffic light failures.

Long tailbacks have punctuated journeys across the town as the system has gone down twice in the last two weeks.

The first time problems emerged on March 20 as sets of traffic lights across the town went out of sync meaning some traffic lights stayed on for their programmed time.

It meant road crossings such as those around Bridge Foot and Bevan Island were not running in conjunction with each other leaving long queues of traffic, particularly From Bevan Island, along Mersey Street and trailing back to Cockhedge Roundabout.

One motorist, who did not want to be named, said: “It is ridiculous to think it takes 30 minutes to travel a distance of one mile which in clear traffic would take no more than three minutes.

“I can only imagine how many people were late in to work because of it and what cost it might have had on the town’s economy.”

It took operators of the system a day to fix the problem with delays dragging on into the evening rush hour And then last Friday a similar problem occurred which saw the telltale queues resurfacing.

A council spokesman said: “On 20 March we experienced a loss of communication with all traffic signals causing each set to revert to a default set of timings and this led to congestion on the roads.

“We worked with the contractor to resolve this issue as soon as possible. A similar technical fault occurred the following week with the signals on Bridge Foot. When problems such as this occur in Warrington we do everything we can to advise motorists; using the electronic signs and local media.

“Work is currently being carried out to improve the overall traffic flow around the town centre and the signals are being observed with the assistance of specialist contractors.”