Wednesfield brought to standstill as buses get stuck
Two buses brought a Black Country town centre to a standstill when they tried to pass each other but became wedged on a busy high street. The two National Express services became trapped at a bottle-neck in Wednesfield town centre.
Passengers were forced to abandon the buses while residents and shoppers flocked to capture the drama on their mobile phones. The company has now launched an investigation after the Walsall-bound double decker number 59 service and the single decker number 89 service for Wolverhampton got stuck at around 1pm yesterday.
It understood one of the vehicles was trying to pass a parked-up bin lorry when they became wedged at a bottle-neck point in the road. It caused tailbacks to Rookery Street at one end of the road and Lichfield Road at the other. Passengers on board both buses had to get off after they became jammed.
The road was blocked for over an hour before council workers came to the rescue and removed the bollards.
Mother-of-two, Kerry Heseltine, aged 21, from Bolton Road, Wednesfield, was one of those caught up in the chaos. She had been due to catch a bus to Ashmore Park but ended up stranded because no vehicles could get out of the High Street.
She said: "I have a pushchair and whole heap of shopping. They need to sort this road out there's always something happening down it." Daniel Warren, aged 20, of Wheeler Road, Long Knowle, called for a change to the number of buses going through the town.
He said: "Wednesfield High Street is struggling to keep to up with the number of buses as it is. They should look at putting some other services near to the market – not all need to come down this road."
The vehicles remained trapped until 2.15pm when a bollard was removed so they could get out. No injuries were reported.
Spokesman for National Express West Midlands, Jack Kelly, said: " We are currently investigating the cause of the incident."
