MOTORISTS' complaints in the town stepped up a gear last week after drivers were left stuck in traffic for hours during the rush hour.

As previously reported in last week's Warrington Guardian, a lorry fire on the M6 led to chaos throughout Warrington on November 14 as an additional 14,000 vehicles per hour attempted to make their way through the town.

But on top of grumbles about the delays, lots of readers took to Facebook and Twitter to complain about the traffic lights on Cockhedge roundabout near the town centre.

Gemma Davies commented on Facebook: "Stop using the lights on the big round about near Cockhedge, causes so much traffic on all roads around it.

"It used to be a fast flowing roundabout now cars pile up at the lights! Ridiculous idea which will cause an accident soon."

We asked council transport chiefs to explain the logic behind traffic lights being turned on during busy periods.

A council spokesman said: "The part time signals at Cockhedge roundabout are activated by congestion loops that are in the road on the A49 Brick St Northbound approach and the A57 Midland Way east bound approach.

"These loops are positioned about 150 metres before the give way line on the approach to the roundabout.

"Once traffic has been standing on these loops for a pre-determined length of time, the traffic signals are activated.

"The timing programme of the signals varies depending upon which set of loops created the demand.

"Once activated, the signals operate for a minimum of 10 minutes and this is to avoid the signals turning on and off too often leading to driver confusion.

"Once the congestion has cleared the traffic signals switch off by going to an ‘all red’ stage to ensure all traffic is stationary before being powered down."