A set of new traffic lights at a busy road junction in Southend was today branded a "shambles".

Motorist Christopher Ford claims the new signals at the junction of Belle Vue Road and Southchurch Road are causing major delays for drivers.

Mr Ford, of Cromer Road, Southend, said that, as a regular customer of the nearby Esso garage, he was seeking another place to buy petrol as driving near the lights was a nightmare.

There are regular tailbacks as far as the White Horse pub near the junction with Lifstan Way, Mr Ford added.

He said that, before the new lights came in, there were few problems with traffic halting near the junction, due to a pedestrian crossing. This allowed traffic to filter from Belle Vue Road or cross Southchurch Road.

He said: "Now we have another innovative and totally unnecessary scheme. First, we have weeks of congesting roadworks to install what looked like a set of pedestrian lights. Instead, we now have a full set of pedestrian/traffic lights.

"This extravaganza even includes lights on the forecourt,, which must surely be a first for the country, especially as the planning and application of it did not include a 'yellow box' to stop drivers blocking the exit from Belle Vue Road.

"This means you can't get out, even with a green light."

"As a regular patron of the garage spending on average £100 per week, I shall seek an alternative source for my petrol and avoid this shambles whenever I can. There must be plenty of others who think likewise."

A Southend Council spokeswoman said the junction had been identified as an accident black spot and the lights were aimed at making it safer.

The new pedestrian crossing incorporated audible signals, guard rails and tactile paving to help the disabled.

She added: "Now the new signals are operational, we shall be trying to optimise them.

"But our main aim is make a safer for journey for everyone, rather than just a faster one."

Road controversy - are these new lights in Southend a motorist's nightmare, a much-needed safety measure, or both?

Picture: MIKE NEVILLE

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.