A TRAFFIC nightmare has engulfed Marlborough for much of the last week, with residents blasting Wales and West Utilities for not manning the traffic lights while they tried to fix an emergency gas leak.

On Friday morning, the gas company rushed to the junction of Barn Street and London Road and dug a hole in the road to reach the gas leak, before setting up temporary traffic lights.

However gridlocked drivers were left fuming as the traffic lights were unmanned for much of Friday, the weekend, Bank Holiday Monday and Tuesday morning, causing traffic queues to stretch for up to two miles out of Marlborough on the major roads to Swindon, Burbage and Avebury.

After days of trying to repair the gas leak, engineers finally fixed the problem at 10am on Wednesday morning and reopened the roads later that afternoon, but not without enraging the community and making many commuters and school children late for their day ahead.

Jane Howcutt, of Cherry Orchard, said it took her nearly an hour and a half to travel one mile from the Tesco roundabout along George Lane onto the A4 past Marlborough College on Friday.

"It has never been this bad before, even when the High Street is closed for the Mop Fairs. It has been at a standstill," she said.

"It was unmanned for periods of the day on Friday and Tuesday. I walked my children to school this morning along George Lane, there were cars turning in the road mounting the pavements whilst doing so.

"It will get worse on the A346 Tesco roundabout with the building of the 200 new houses, it will kill the High Street and make Marlborough a no-go zone."

Hundreds took to social media to vent their fury towards the gas company for what they saw as a failure to deal with the situation properly, feeling the lights should have been controlled by a person so they could adjust timings and reduce delays.

On Tuesday local resident Lucy Twisk said: "It was complete chaos. The traffic was awful on Tuesday at 9am and there was not a hi-vis in sight."

Headteacher of St Mary's School, Anne Schwodler, added: "Some of our children have been 30 minutes or so late due to the traffic and I was queuing from 7.30am on Tuesday."

On Wednesday morning Bill Frost, Wales and West Utilities senior operational manager for Marlborough, said: "We have repaired the gas leak beneath London Road in Marlborough.

"The holes we dug to do this work have now been filled in, and the road surface is now setting. We anticipate that this will be complete and the traffic lights removed by Wednesday afternoon.

"We know our work has been disruptive, and we really appreciate the patience of local people while we worked. It was essential to repair the leaking pipe to keep the local community safe, and keep the gas flowing to homes and businesses in Marlborough."