Failing Robin Hood lights now fixed but still congestion as traffic clears

The traffic lights on the A4 for vehicles approaching from Thatcham were stuck permanently on red and traffic was also heavy from Shaw Road as motorists tried to find another route.
West Berkshire Council confirmed at 10.37am that an enginner was on site.
A council spokeswoman, Peta Stoddart-Crompton, told newburytoday.co.uk earlier this morning: “A fault developed on the controls on the southern side of the Robin Hood roundabout, which became stuck on red this morning (Fri).
“The fault was reported to Siemens [engineers] at 7.30am, who maintain the traffic lights.
“They have listed it as a priority and the engineer, who lives a distance away, is en route.”
Several of people have been in touch on the issue, including Ben Hennessy, who said: “I came down Shaw Road and was heading for the A34 north.
“I came through the Robin Hood Roundabout at about 7:15 this morning and it was already pretty chaotic even with fairly light traffic.
“Some people realised they were broken and were going, others were sitting waiting, horns blowing all over the place, people pulling out left right and centre.
“It probably took me 10 – 15 mins to get round which wasn’t too bad considering.”
One Thatcham resident added: “I have given up for now and come home.
“I left home in Ashman Road, Thatcham, at 8.30am to go to Kiln Road and because the traffic was backed up I thought I would go up Ashmore Green and down Stoney Lane.
“Unfortunately, so did a wagon and because the traffic coming the other way had no where to go we all had to back up and turn around.
“I then tried Fishers Lane to find that was backed up, by this time I was worried I would run out of petrol so I turned round, got petrol [and have] come home for an hour before trying again.”
Traffic stretched from the Robin Hood roundabout through Thatcham as far as Heath Lane, with many drivers giving up and turning round, taking as much as five minutes to travel 100 meters.
The Turnpike roundabout was gridlocked at around 9.20am and some drivers chose to try and bypass the chaos by heading along Turnpike Road into Shaw.
However, the Robin Hood backlog stretched from the roundabout through North Newbury. There was also slow traffic on Shaw Road, Shall Hill, Kiln Road and Turnpike Road (pictured).
Public transport has also been affected, with Reading Buses reporting delays of around 50-minutes to its Jet Black services as a result.
Were you or are you still affected by the delays? Let reporter Ellis Barker know by emailing ellis.barker@newburytoday.co.uk, tweeting @ellisb_nwn or @NewburyToday