THE man in charge of Blackburn's new orbital route today blamed bad drivers for the confusion which has marred its opening -- and said they should start reading the road signs.

Coun Ashley Whalley's view was attacked by opposition councillors, who accused him of passing the buck after Blackburn with Darwen Council failed to put out enough signs to direct motorists.

The Automobile Association leapt to the defence of drivers, saying all routes should be clearly marked. And motorists themselves said the situation needed to be sorted out. Coun Whalley revealed council officers were still being deployed on certain areas of the new route -- designed to let traffic pass around the town centre without going through it -- to make sure things went smoothly.

Coun Whalley's comments came after Blackburn with Darwen Council was criticised over the way it handled the new street system after a large chunk of it was opened on Monday. There was one accident and a number of near misses on the first day.

The main bottleneck is in the area where traffic used to be able to travel under the Darwen Street bridge, along Canterbury Street and down Freckleton Street to reach King Street.

Now they must use Islington after turning left on to Canterbury Street to get onto Byrom Street.

Council officers did not place a new sign directing traffic along Islington due to what Coun Whalley described as "an oversight", which caused confusion on Monday and prompted the police to say the public needed to be better informed. But despite that sign being erected on Monday evening, Coun Whalley claims drivers are still not reading the new road signs, particularly in the Canterbury Street area, where people are regularly performing U-turns.

He said: "I appeal to people to read the signs and follow them for the next few weeks.

"By and large, the scheme has been a success but we do need people's help.

"I travel down that route several times a day and every time I see people driving down Canterbury Street when they are not supposed to.

"That part of the street is meant for traffic coming toward the Darwen Street bridge.

"If drivers read the signs there would not be any problems but they aren't."

But drivers insist it isn't their fault. HGV driver Chris Crawford who works for a Manchester haulage firm is working in the town centre and became stuck on Canterbury Street.

He said: "It's ridiculous, if I had known, I wouldn't have come down here in the first place. You only find out you can't go down Canterbury Street when you are already on it." And another flustered driver said: "This is madness. I didn't know you was supposed to go up Islington, but I do now."

An AA spokesman said: "We would hope anybody that gets behind a wheel does look at signs, but the key is it should be marked out properly otherwise drivers will be confused.

"If they have been used to driving down a certain road for a number of years only to suddenly discover it has become one-way, then that ought to be properly flagged up to motorists. There is a cost implication of having the same sign three times on the same stretch road, but if that's what needs to be done then that's what should be looked at."

Coun Colin Rigby, leader of the Conservative group, said: "I think Coun Whalley is trying to pass on the blame.

"I accept there have been problems with the signs in that some were incorrect when they arrived from the contractor but the main problem is the lack of signs. "

Sgt Stuart Isherwood, of the Road Policing Unit at Accrington, said: "It seems to have settled down a bit since Monday now that drivers are becoming more accustomed to the road system, although traffic is still very slow."