Delays as lorry sheds its load in Dudley

Sheets were scattered around the road at the Castlegate island at the junction of Tipton Road and Birmingham Road, in Dudley, yesterday lunchtime.

Traffic quickly backed up on surrounding roads including Duncan Edwards Way and Castle Hill as the road was blocked at around noon.

Cars were unable to use one of the lanes around the island causing chaos as vehicles had run over them in the aftermath of the incident.

Police arrived at the scene to direct traffic away from the outside line which feeds vehicles into the Castlegate retail and business park outside the Rentokil offices.

Queues around a quarter of a mile long formed down Tipton Road opposite the entrance to the Black Country Living Museum.

Cars had to waved past the sheeting as the lorry was forced to pull up in one of the entrance roads to the business park.

Sheeting had to be picked up by hand and initially rested along metal barriers at the side of the roadway around the major island on the A461 which passes the Tesco Burnt Tree store.

Cars were able to negotiate the island but officers did have to stand in the road to ensure cars entering the roundabout spotted the grey sheeting against the road surface.

It is not known how the accident happened at this stage but other emergency services did not have to attend the accident. The metal sheeting was recovered in around an hour to allow the lane to be reopened.

One motorist, who did not wish to be named, said: "We were caught up in traffic for a while but the police were there to keep the cars moving."