WORKERS today faced a mile-long crawl into Blackburn because of a gas leak in the town centre.
Drivers approaching the town from Accrington and from the M65 junction at Whitebirk were faced with a queue which stretched from Thwaites Brewery back towards the Tesco supermarket off Burnley Road.
The tailbacks were caused as gas pipe company Transco, tried to pinpoint a small gas leak coming from the centre of the road at Eanam, close to the main car park entrance of Morrisons.
Drivers wanting to drive down Eanam from the roundabout at the end of Barbara Castle Way were forced to head down Penny Street.
By 9am, many drivers were choosing to ignore the diversion signs and drive down Eanam against the flow of one-way traffic.
Transco spokesman James Ruane said the works began after a "very slight" leak in a 10-inch cast iron gas main was reported. The repairs began yesterday at 10am with engineers working through till 10pm. The works resumed today and the company hoped to have fixed the problem by this afternoon.
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