Long delays for drivers after manhole collapses

To protect workers repairing the damage on Chapel Lane, in Wigan town centre, the council had to shut a lane of Darlington Street and part of Riverway.

This led to long tailbacks as far as Bickershaw and through Hindley Green, Hindley, Platt Bridge and Ince.

Office worker Gemma Charters, from Hindley Green, said: “The commute to Wigan usually only takes me 20 minutes. Today it has taken me two hours.”

Bus operator Stagecoach reported “severe delays” for its vehicles travelling in and out of the bus station.

A spokeswoman for the authority’s Street Works department said at 11.15am on Tuesday that the work was almost complete and the traffic should soon be returning to normal.