'Temporary' lights for 463 days

Tom Baker said he was surprised by the figures

A frustrated motorist turned detective after years of delays caused by temporary traffic lights near his home.

Tom Baker, from Broughton, Flintshire, said he "finally snapped" on a trip to nearby Chester on the A5104 a month ago.

He soon found out temporary lights were in place on parts of the road for 463 working days in the last three years.

Flintshire County Council said it tried to ensure there was "as little disruption as possible".

Machine operator Mr Baker said he used the Freedom of Information Act to request information about the lights after experiencing frustrating delays on the road known as the Saltney Straight between Broughton roundabout and Boundary Lane in Saltney.

There seems to be no apparent co-ordination of services Tom Baker

"There were two sets of temporary traffic lights on the road," he said.

"I thought something needs to be done about it and the first thing to do is to get some information as to precisely how frequently this has been happening.

"I asked the number of working days in the past three years, and the answer came back 463 working days."

He has calculated that this works out at 61% of the working days available.

Temporary traffic lights can cause frustrating delays

"I was surprised - I knew it was going to be high - I thought maybe 35-40% of the time, but 61% astounded me," he said.

He said the lights were "extraordinarily frustrating", especially for his wife, who uses the road to travel to work.

He said he was well aware that work needed to be done, but called for greater organisation.

"There seems to be no apparent co-ordination of services," he said.

Emergencies

A Flintshire County Council spokesman said the figure given to Mr Baker was correct but claimed the council did try to co-ordinate road works with utility companies.

He said: "We do regularly meet with them and try, wherever possible, to ensure there is as little disruption as possible.

"Most of the road works have indeed been carried out by the utility companies, some of which may have been emergencies.

"In terms of Flintshire County Council work, new traffic signals were installed at Victoria Road, Saltney and major improvement work has been carried out at Saltney's Sandy Lane junction."