ZEBEDEE would have got in a right tizzy on Leigh's "magic" roundabout.

The newly installed Traffic control system at the Twist Lane junction with Atherleigh Way is creating an accident 'waiting-to-happen' situation.

Drivers, pedestrians and public transport experts are calling for a rethink on the road lane layout.

Wigan Council says it will now direct these concerns to consultants who designed the layout to national standards.

And one critic claims drivers are being directed to go where even men on a suicide mission might fear to tread.

Leigh man Desmond Fleming ponders:"I ask councillors, who bear ultimate responsibility, to prove that the merry-go-round where Twist Lane waltzes with Atherleigh Way is safe to use.

"Three lanes enter the whirligig from the Sportsman side of Twist Lane. These are clearly marked. May I therefore ask three councillors to use these lanes simultaneously, in line, abreast.

"Left one to go to Asda, middle one to Kwik Save/Pioneer and the right one to head for the East Lancs Road. In their cars I hasten to add.

"If they need to know how to do it, the kamikaze pilots paved the way."

And bus operator Jim Stones warned:"It's a joke. I would imagine there have already been minor accidents but sooner or later somebody is going to be killed.

"Just a few yards short of the roundabout you have a single lane, then there's a slip road then it splits into three lanes and there's a pedestrian crossing bang on top of the roundabout. "I almost knocked someone down while driving my car. It demands a rethink."

Traffic control campaigner Eunice Gray, of Twist Lane, said from a pedestrians' viewpoint the roundabout was brilliant - almost.

She said:"It would be, apart from the fact they've closed the right hand side of the by-pass to pedestrians. So if you want to get to the other side of Twist Lane you have all those traffic lanes to cross.

"But it's a different story from the motorists' viewpoint - I don't know any driver who has a good word to say about it. Motorists are up in arms.

"The roundabout was supposed to ease road chaos but between 8.30-9am the traffic is backed-up all along the bypass."

A Council spokesman said:"The layout was designed by traffic consultants working for developers City Link and meets all national standards.

"We have had no complaints at all but we will be talking to the consultants and see if there are any modifications needed."

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