A pothole surrounding a drain cover in Limpley Stoke caused even more traffic chaos in Bath yesterday after temporary traffic lights were put in place for roadworks to repair it.
Thousands of drivers faced delays of up to an hour and a half as traffic queued along the A36 Warminster Road from Bath towards and through Limpley Stoke.
Brassknocker Hill became completely solid with stationary traffic travelling through Combe Down to avoid the B31110 Midford Road closure caused by a landslide, which contributed to further traffic on the A36 Warminster Road.
Having queued for up to an hour to reach the roadworks, motorists were surprised to see that there were no workmen on site and the traffic lights were protecting an empty area.
With the traffic lights put up during the afternoon, workmen from the Highways Agency arrived late evening, at around 8pm, to begin to fix the minor hole.
The pothole in question had been in the same state for the past two months, having also been fixed late last year.
It is unknown what caused the Highways Agency to repair the pothole while more traffic was being filtered onto the busy main road due to the Midford Road closure.

The drain cover in question – © Google
@NOWBath tried to leave bath tonight left home at 4pm headed for Warminster road. Still in bath 1 hour 30 mins later
— joanne adams (@jojoplumplum) February 7, 2014
@NOWBath
Traffic chaos on A36 outbound.
Q back to Widcombe from Hinton Chart. Reason?
Temp TL around a pot hole!
Just repair hole maybe?
— Bob Smith (@Schmiffy12) February 7, 2014
@NOWBath took me an hour to get back to Frome from bath vie brass knocker and A36. No workmen at roadworks
— steve cleaver (@cleaversp) February 7, 2014
@IdeologyLite @NOWBath you wait till you see what actually wasn't there between the temp traffic lights. 2 hrs to get through them
— Bernard Williams (@Nakedgardener74) February 7, 2014