Questions raised after broken drain in Millbrook Road West caused delays for motorists stretching five hours

That is the question being asked after the latest rush hour gridlock to hit the city trapped thousands of cars in five-mile tailbacks while workers took 13 hours to fix it.

The drain in Millbrook Road West was initially reported collapsed at around 12.30am on Thursday morning and two lanes were cordoned off for traffic safety.

But it was not until around 11am that Southern Water contractors arrived to begin repairs, by which time traffic chaos had already set in with cars and lorries stuck in queues as far back as the A35 at Ashurst in the New Forest and the A336 in Totton.

Hundreds of drivers tricked by fake insurance website. Are you one of them? Click here

The city council said the drain belonged to Southern Water and that the delay in action was to allow the utility company to come up with the parts required for the complex process of rebuilding the drain.

But Southern Water has since denied the drain is its responsibility and said its workers only fixed it to relieve the traffic problems.

Now residents and councillors alike are calling for quicker action, including Royston Smith, leader of the Conservatives on Southampton City Council, who said the city's constant traffic problems could drive businesses away.

He said: “If that drain collapsed at 8am you could say “Ok, that happens”, but it does not take a genius to see that if you don't do something about it, like narrow the remaining lane into two, that it will cause a problem. There's no way it should have taken so long.

“The minimum people will expect now is a full investigation into what happened because who is responsible for the economic loss this has caused? Businesses will very soon say “enough is enough” and pull out of Southampton because they cannot continue to operate in gridlock.”

He added: “The thing I noticed the most was how much I expect this now. It's like this all the time now and I think most people just come to the position that this is what Southampton is like.

“It's just one thing after another and although these things are not always the council's fault there is no contingency in place or any respite. And there is too much passing the buck every time there is an incident.”

Stewart Dunn, chief executive at Hampshire Chamber of Commerce, is also concerned at traffic's impact on business, particularly with Christmas approaching.

He said: “Missing half a day of trading can have a huge impact. Once again we have a bottleneck coming into Southampton and coming up to Christmas it is absolutely imperative we support traders through not only parking incentives but also ensuring we keep the roads as clear as possible.”

Cllr Jacqui Rayment, cabinet member for transport, said the delay in fixing the drain was to allow Southern Water to source all the parts required.

She said: “As far as I understand Southern Water had to reset the entire drain and gather the bits to put it all back together; it's not a case of just putting another cover on top.

“They had to do whatever they had to do and that takes time. It's not an excuse, once they established there was a hole they made the area safe.”

Motorists were furious at the delays with many late for work, while bus services also faced heavy tailbacks.

Gill Gould, partner at city PR firm Carswell Gould, spent two and a half hours driving to work in the city from Bashley in the New Forest.

She said: “It's been awful; thousands of cars have just been sitting still. If this was an emergency problem it should have been dealt with as soon as it happened. We would immediately be available if our clients had an emergency, so why should it be any different on the roads?”

Stephen Graham, 27, usually takes less than 10 minutes to drive to work for a logistics company based near Dock Gate 20, but saw the journey take more than 40 minutes this morning.

He said: “I've heard it was a collapsed drain cover that happened last night and I find it ridiculous this was not sorted out before the morning rush hour to avoid all this chaos.”

The drain was fixed by around 1pm, with traffic returning to normal soon after.

Hundreds of drivers tricked by fake insurance website. Are you one of them? Click here

Mystery still surrounds broken drain

THE mystery continues over just who was responsible for the drain which caused so much chaos.

Cllr Jacqui Rayment and the city council said the drain belonged to Southern Water.

She said: “People wanted to blame the council but it was Southern Water's problem and it is up to them to solve it.

“This was a Southern Water issue but as far as I can see everyone has done their part in the process, it's just frustrating that the process took so long.”

But the utility company deny the drain is their concern.

A Southern Water spokesman said: “We don't believe it was a Southern Water cover but repaired it anyway to ease the traffic disruption.

“The drainage network is complex with different agencies responsible for different aspects. We and the city council will continue to look into the issue to establish who owns the manhole cover.”

Cllr Rayment added: “We do inspect drains and drain covers regularly and I'm sure at some point someone will be able to say what went wrong. It is a busy road with a lot of heavy traffic and unfortunately these things do happen.”