Commuters faced traffic chaos (From The Oxford Times)

Commuters faced traffic chaos

9:10am Wednesday 2nd May 2012 in Oxford

COMMUTERS were confronted by gridlock in and around Oxford yesterday morning as incidents around the city caused long delays.

Broken-down vehicles caused problems in Banbury Road and the A40 North Way at rush hour.

There were delays of up to an hour on the Eastern and Southern bypasses in both directions.

On the Northern Bypass, traffic backed up on the A44 and around the Wolvercote roundabout.

Traffic nearer the city centre was mainly disrupted due to the traditional May Morning celebrations, which closed down Magdalen Bridge until 9am.

Many buses were diverted down Abingdon Road, causing major backlogs on to Iffley Road and back on to the ring road.

Stagecoach reported “major delays” of up to 40 minutes on its routes.

There were also problems caused by roadworks in Wolvercote, and a broken-down coach caused delays later in the morning on the A40 around Marston.