BT roadworks removed after causing chaos

Roadworks which caused chaos on a busy roundabout in Wolverhampton have been removed, despite traders and residents saying they have only witnessed work going on for about an hour over two days.

BT Openreach has said the work on the junction of Coalway Road, Warstones Road and Oxbarn Avenue in Penn was to provide new cabling for broadband internet.

Four-way lights were set up on Wednesday and queues were backed up as far as Merry Hill and Bradmore yesterday.

Sarbjit Daley, who owns Sarbs Convenience Store, said he had seen workmen set up the lights on Wednesday but that they had not been back until the lights were removed. He said: "Early in the afternoon yesterday some men came and there was someone in the hole for about an hour. Then they removed the lights and went."

Samantha Johnson, aged 44, who lives by the roundabout in Coalway Road, said it had been "bedlam" since the four-way lights were brought in. She said: "We weren't informed that this was going to happen. We can't get out of out drive and there's nobody here that seems to be doing anything apart from one engineer who seems to spend all his time on his mobile."

Kirsty Vernon, from Blu Breys Unisex Hair Salon, on the roundabout, said: "People get to the lights and don't wait for people to get across the zebra crossing, so there have been several narrow misses."

BT Openreach spokesman Chris Orum said: "Openreach would like to apologise to motorists for any inconvenience caused by this essential work to provide new fibre cabling for the roll-out of high speed fibre broadband in the area. The four-way lights were essential in order to provide a safe one metre wide walkway for pedestrians while contractors carried out the work."

Responding to claims only an hour of work was carried out, he added: "There is quite a bit of work going on in the area so the contractors may have been elsewhere when the traders were looking."