ROAD bosses today apologised for not warning motorists about major roadworks which caused severe delays on Magdalen Bridge in Oxford.

The road surface repairs reduced the bridge to a single contraflow lane yesterday, causing tailbacks along The Plain and back up St Clement’s Street and Iffley and Cowley Roads.

Oxfordshire County Council said it carried out repairs to the bridge’s road surface at the start of the week, to avoid the start of £3m of works starting next week in the High Street.

But the authority admitted it had not given enough warning to drivers.

Megan Parry, who works at St Catherine’s College, in Manor Road, said her nine-and-a-half mile journey into work from Dorchester, near Wallingford, had taken her an hour and 10 minutes. It usually takes 25 minutes.

She said: “I was stuck in Iffley Road for about 40 minutes.

“I could see The Plain but I couldn’t see what was happening.

“It was only when I got through that I realised they were doing roadworks.

“It was a nightmare.

“It was the same on the way home too.

“If it was only going to take a day, couldn’t they have waited until the schools were out and there was less traffic?”

Labour city councillor John Sanders said he had spoken to a number of people caught in Monday’s traffic.

He said: “There seems to be a culture of this sort of thing happening at County Hall. There’s a lack of regard for people.

“The traffic was horrendous. Anybody coming into Oxford from the east or south has to come across Magdalen Bridge.

“What the council should have done is put signs on all the bus stops, warning this was going to happen.”

Louisa Weeks, operations director for the Oxford Bus Company, said the firm was told of the roadworks seven days before they were carried out.

She said: “We were a little surprised by the scale of the work.”

Stagecoach was given less notice and said it was only told at the end of last week.

Spokesman Chris Child said even though the company had organised extra supervision to try and cope with the problems, the roadworks bought traffic to a standstill with services running up to an hour late.

He added: “For short term roadworks like those yesterday, we would urge for them to be carried out in the evening and on Sundays to minimise the disruption to passengers travelling to and from work on our services.”

Last night a county council spokesman apologised, saying: “On this occasion bus companies and Magdalen College were told, but we failed to tell the public in time.

“We would like to say sorry to people who were affected.

“We are good at letting people know what’s happening, but on this occasion we fell short of our usual high standards.”

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk