TRAFFIC chaos ensued on Saturday evening (January 31) as the north of Wellington was cut off by road for several hours following a minor car accident in Longforth Road.

A small white car ended up positioned across most of the road close to Roly Poly Green and the Church Fields junction shortly before 7 pm.

Police closed the road in both directions and were unable to move the vehicle out of the way until a recovery truck arrived some hours later.

With North Street already closed by Wessex Water from January 21 until February 6 for emergency sewer repairs, it left Burchills Hill as the only road connection between Wellington north and the rest of the town.

But the narrow road from Rockwell Green, which is single track in many places, quickly became traffic-logged and vehicles came to a standstill unable to go forward or backward.

Traffic at a standstill in Longforth Road, Wellington, after a minor collision on Saturday evening.
Traffic at a standstill in Longforth Road, Wellington, after a minor collision on Saturday evening. (Tindle News)

It meant ambulances and fire engines would have been unable to reach the scene of an emergency if they had been called to an incident while Longforth Road was blocked.

The only open way in and out of Tonedale was via the road to Milverton.

One young woman told the Wellington Weekly: “I am supposed to be getting my children back from my ex tonight but there is no way I can get to Tonedale so they will have to stay with him until tomorrow.”

One motorist said he had been stuck in the jams in Longforth Road for 45 minutes unable to move.

He told the Wellington Weekly: “There is going to be trouble, people are getting very angry and frustrated, swearing at each other and honking horns.

“The police are not even stopping people trying to turn in, it is absolute chaos.”

This white car damaged in a collision in Longforth Road resulted in the north of Wellington being cut off on Saturday evening.
This white car damaged in a collision in Longforth Road resulted in the north of Wellington being cut off on Saturday evening. (Tindle News)

Earlier in the afternoon, motorists had been venting their anger on social media about queues from the High Street traffic lights as far back as the Relyon factory in Brendon Road because Somerset Council had not adjusted the timing of the lights after North Street was closed.

They said only two to three vehicles at a time were being allowed out of Longforth Road, with priority given to traffic in High Street.

Cllr Andrew Govier, one of two councillors representing Wellington on Somerset Council, said he would ‘do what I can’ to speak to highways officers to try to change the traffic light sensors to allow more vehicles to exit Longforth Road.