Hundreds of motorists heading in and out of Brightlingsea faced long delays thanks to roadworks near the Thorrington roundabout.

Some drivers reported taking more than an hour to get out of the town while work (on Wednesday March 5) to install a new bus stop took place – with traffic at the busy junction managed by four-way traffic lights.

At one point queues snaked back past the Colne School, while buses heading for Brightlingsea stopped at Alresford, abandoning passengers.

Brightlingsea county councillor Alan Goggin visited the site while work was taking place to speak to the traffic managers. He apologised to everyone “caught up in today’s chaos caused mainly by a wrong green time allocation on the lights”.

He added: “I have already asked Essex Highways for an investigation to try and find out how today’s dreadful hold ups occurred and to avoid anything similar happening again. As soon as answers are received I will make sure they are shared.”