TRAFFIC came to a grinding halt in Nelson after the M65 was closed leaving miles of furious motorists stuck in four-mile jams from Brierfield to Burnley.

Lancashire County Council closed the motorway East bound from junction 12 to 13 for resurfacing work causing chaos as drivers at Gannow roundabout and Princess Way in Burnley joined a stationary queue of traffic.

Mayor of Pendle Coun Frank Clifford was also stuck in the queues for two hours. He slammed the lack of organisation saying the slip roads from Burnley should have been closed and the traffic diverted along Padiham by-pass rather than being forced to travel through Nelson.

A spokesman apologised for the inconvenience and said work will continue this week, but a further shutdown will not take place next weekend.

Nelson Football Club had to abandon its match after its opponents, Middlewich, failed to arrive for the 1.30pm kick-off.

Colne Asda reported a quiet day's trading and Boundary Mill said they received a lot of complaints from customers who had been stuck in queues for hours and then found diversion signs through Nelson town centre difficult to follow. Pendle police were inundated with calls from angry motorists and several police were deployed on traffic duty to try to ease the problem.

Coun Clifford said: "It was quite ridiculous. What was the point in joining the motorway to park up in a four-mile queue of traffic?"

Paul Butler, treasurer of Nelson Chamber of Trade, said: "If people can't get into a town centre they change their shopping habits and it could have a very big knock-on long-term effect."

Some drivers, on spotting the standing queue of traffic, dangerously reversed their cars back up the slip road at Gannow and back on to the roundabout.

Ken Broom, chairman of Nelson FC, said it was 2.50pm before the full team arrived, only to be told the referee had abandoned the game. Middlewich will now face a disciplinary hearing.

Ken said: "Seven years ago we didn't have the motorway and we never had problems like this."

The county spokesman added: "If work was left until after Christmas it would have a higher chance of being delayed by bad weather, particularly where overnight working is involved.

"All work is carried out as quickly as possible to minimise the time roads are closed, but it is inevitable that some hold ups occur."

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