ROADWORKS brought a town centre to a standstill yesterday causing a three-mile tailback.

Traders in Northallerton said takings were down as a result of the congestion.

Some drivers were so fed up with waiting that they gave up on their attempts to get into the town and turned round and went home.

The problems were caused by roadworks in Friarage Street, where Yorkshire Water closed a section of the road to work on a connection to the Friarage Hospital.

It meant traffic coming from Brompton Road and the High Street was unable to access Bullamoor Road.

David Hawksworth, landlord of the Fox and Hounds, in Bullamoor, said at one point there was a three-mile tailback in Brompton Road and it was taking people an hour and 20 minutes to reach the town centre.

He said: "The signage is appalling. If they had put signs back at the Green Tree, at Brompton, they could have sent everyone up side roads and alleviated the traffic going to the roundabout.

"There wasn't even a sign as far back as the roundabout on Turker Lane. They should also have had signs in Darlington Road.

"Everyone is just getting so frustrated. It is such an important junction. I don't know why they had to do this work during the day."

The work was initially scheduled for last Sunday, but was not completed.

Eddy Hayward, Hambleton area traffic manager for North Yorkshire County Council, said the work had to be done yesterday so it would be finished within the formal five-day road closure.

He said: "The decision was taken that if there is a quieter day, it is probably a Thursday.

"We have had complaints about the signs, but we have had them checked and we are confident they are adequate."

He said the congestion on Brompton Road was caused by drivers coming in from Darlington Road ignoring the diversion signs.

"They are turning along Friarage Street and finding they have got to do a U-turn to go back to the High Street, holding up traffic in Brompton Road," he said. "It has been quite a bottleneck."