BURNLEY motorists have criticised the new sets of traffic lights at a busy roundabout after suffering further delays.

Exasperated drivers have been left dealing with long delays at peak times since the four new sets of signals at Barracks roundabout were turned on in December.

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Yesterday motorists complained about being stuck for an extra half hour in the morning as they struggled through the traffic lights.

Complaints have been made that regularly they have been left bumper-to-bumper along Padiham Road, Accrington Road and Pendle Way.

The new lights were unveiled following lengthy road works which had previously caused problems for motorists.

Road bosses at Lancashire County Council were forced to apologise yesterday for the delays.

One Burnley motorist said: “It now takes around ten minutes to get through this roundabout and a problem has been caused where there wasn’t one previously.

“It’s causing a lot of cars to be backed up and stop-start traffic which could cause accidents.

“These changes have caused a big problem at peak times and could have been avoided.

“The lights should only be part-time between the hours of 4pm and 6pm in the evening because at the rest of the time they are just causing more problems.”

Burnley councillor Charles Briggs, a former county councillor, said: “This is a disgrace and we still have problems with this roundabout almost 12 months after the project started.

“When I was a county councillor I helped bring in the first set of lights and I welcomed this project.

“It’s a good scheme if it’s managed properly but it just isn’t.

“Lancashire County Council should address this problem now and let the people of Burnley know what’s going to happen.

“At the moment the situation is completely unacceptable to everyone who has been affected.”

Graeme Leathard, Lancashire County Council’s principal highways engineer, said: “Unfortunately, there was a fault with the system that controls the traffic lights at the Barracks Roundabout yesterday morning.

“This led to queuing traffic so we contacted the traffic signal contractor who sent out an engineer straight away.

“The problem was fixed quickly and the traffic was moving as normal by 8.45am.

“We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused and will continue to monitor the roundabout to ensure traffic flows smoothly.”