TRAFFIC chaos on Crowndale Road, Tavistock, last Friday has been slammed by many local residents on Facebook.

One man took to the social media site to say that the situation, which was reported to have started from Crowndale Recycling Centre, was ‘totally ridiculous’.

Andy Hughes said: ‘At 11am I joined a short queue facing the usual closed gate — opening hours 9am to 5pm — 45 minutes later the gate was still shut.

‘I’d witnessed numerous stand-offs between the “through” traffic in each direction, getting worse as the recycling traffic lengthened, including a three-on-three stand-off where one guy couldn’t or wouldn’t reverse.

‘To cap it all, a flashing blue light ambulance travelling out of Tavistock got caught up in it all.

‘In spite of folk pleading to the gate staff to open the gates and let the waiting cars in to relieve the congestion, thus letting the ambulance though, the jobsworth apparently refused. The ambulance had to turn round and find another route.’

One person added to Mr Hughes’ post that the congestion at the tip was a ‘bad accident waiting to happen’ and ‘needs traffic management urgently’.

In response, a spokesperson from Devon County Council said: ‘Signs at the recycling centre state that waste loading/skip changes may result in the site being closed for short periods during the day to ensure the safety of the public, and that during these times queues are possible.

‘It is a two-way road and in most circumstances it is wide enough to enable for emergency vehicles to pass on blue lights if queuing traffic move to the side of the road.’