A COLLAPSED sewer brought road chaos to Benfleet, leaving motorists stuck in long queues.

Three-way traffic signals have been put up at the roundabout where Essex Way, the High Street and the High Road meet, while engineers from Anglian Water carry out emergency repairs to the sewer.

During the evening rushhour yesterday, traffic was backed up as far as Benfleet Bridge, which connects Canvey with the mainland.

Staff at the Hoy and Helmet pub, in the High Street, were inundated with complaints from customers who were struggling to get in and out of the pub car park because of the queue of backed-up traffic.

Barmaid Jade Bennett said: “I cycle to work, so luckily, I wasn’t affected by the traffic.

“But it was pretty extensive, even at 3pm, so it was obvious it would be complete chaos with everyone trying to get home from work in the evening.

“It seems to go through phases. At some points, the traffic is moving slowly, but at other times, the cars are at a complete standstill. It’savery busy roundabout.

“All our customers have noticed and a lot have commented on the problems with the car park. We just hope everything gets back to normal soon. No one seems to know what is actually going on, so I think that has caused some frustration.”

Workmen began digging down to reach the collapsed sewer, outside the Essex Way GP surgery, yesterday afternoon.

It is not yet known how long the emergency work would take.

A spokesman for Anglian Water said: “We apologise for any inconvenience this has caused, but fixing the sewer is a priority.”

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