RED-FACED traffic bosses who forgot to pack away traffic lights have apologised for causing three-mile tailbacks on a busy Hampshire highway.

Rush-hour traffic ground to a halt for two hours yesterday on the A326 because of the blunder by Glendining (Roads) Ltd.

AA Roadwatch reported queues of up to three miles in both directions in the Marchwood area between 6.15am and 8am.

Sheffield-based Glendining had installed the temporary signals to carry out road resurfacing on Sunday.

But hundreds of commuters had a nasty shock when the lights continued to delay traffic the following morning.

One angry driver, who preferred not to be named, said: "They had finished the work, there was no obstruction whatsoever, no work going on, nothing at all, just traffic lights and huge tailbacks of traffic."

Pierre Laubscher, general manager of the contracting firm, said his company specialised in the installation of anti-skid surfacing.

He said his company's work was always carried out at off-peak times but that the material can only be fitted on a dry

surface.

This had meant working every Sunday for a month and the difficulties to scheduling this caused had led to yesterday's oversight, he said.

He said: "Occasionally situations arise that cannot be foreseen and delays on the A326 at Marchwood was just such an event. We have spoken to a number of members of the public and apologised for this incident. Once again we apologise for this event and give you our assurance to that we will continue to work towards eliminating unforeseen problems in the future."

A spokeswoman for Hamp-shire County Council said: "The traffic lights were meant to be taken down the day before but unfortunately were not taken down until the next morning at 8am.

"As soon as the contractors were alerted they took the lights down. They are very sorry for any inconvenience."

Becky Rees, spokeswoman for the AA motoring organisation, said: "Obviously this was an oversight that caused a lot of frustration for many motorists. Let's hope it doesn't happen again."