FOR years Tyldesley has been a mere shadow of its once-thriving self -- a place for passing through on the way to somewhere else.

Not of late, matey!

Roadworks at the 'bottom of Shak' have brought traffic to a halt or, at best, a slow crawl.

This has been going on for months but dire problems set in when temporary traffic signals were installed. At peak periods traffic backs up to Mosley Common -- two miles away. And last Friday a colleague took 35 minutes to drive from High Street at Atherton to Tyldesley Baths as grinning pedestrians sped past!

"Not our fault," said a council spokesman, "it's United Utilities. We haven't been inundated with complaints (I know the police have) and in any case the job is nearly finished. Anyway because of the nature of the job there's not a lot they could do about the signal timing."

Try telling that to anybody trying to get to or from work while a three-way set of traffic signals is stuck on red at the same time. Bus and delivery drivers have my sympathy.

When a main artery like this is involved surely it calls for seven days a week, round-the-clock working to get the pain over as quickly as possible.

If anybody lost their job because they were late for work would they be excused paying next year's water bill? I think not.

Kath Cooley has asked me if I can clarify a point on bus lanes along Leigh Road, Leigh. She says she and her husband are under the impression that these are for buses only during certain hours and the rest of the time it is perfectly legal to drive in them.

She says: "If this is the case why is there only ever us that does this , while everyone else drives in the middle of the road and avoids the lane like the plague?

When they get to the end of the bus lane they cut straight across in front of us and shake their head at us or give a two finger salute!

Sorry Kath, I'm one who avoids them whether I should or not, but the council tells me each lane is different and there should be signs in the area giving the relevant info!