Daily Echo motoring correspondent Glynn Williams, pictured, last night challenged the Highways Agency claim that the traffic lights were not to blame for yesterday’s traffic chaos.

He said: “The queues were far worse than normal, even after a holiday. And only because the traffic light phasing was all wrong.

“There were only 20 seconds of green lights to let traffic through from the M27 to the M271 but 45 seconds of red while the traffic from Bournemouth and Romsey had priority.

“It was like the original default setting when the lights were first installed and caused weeks of congestion and frustration.”