YET another nightmare appears on the A666 in Darwen where everlasting excavations make it a drivers' hell. This time, it is a mound of rubble blocking one half of this major commuter route.

Dug up during a recent water mains replacement project, it could have been carted away - one man and a wheelbarrow could have moved it in half an hour.

But, instead, it was left for days and temporary traffic lights installed on either side of it, adding yet more hold-ups to the ones drivers have to put up with already.

The reason? So that contractors could do the job quicker, we are told.

But does no-one - contractors, hole-digging utilities or council - ever give a thought to motorists' needs? It seems not.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.