A main road through Headington was closed for an hour, and a fire engine answering an emergency call was forced to do a U-turn, after a lorry delivering parts of a new operating theatre became stuck.

One of Europe's biggest cranes and several portable cabins were delivered to the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre on Saturday, June 21.

A temporary theatre was being built to reduce waiting times for operations. Police closed the road between 3pm and 4pm, after a lorry carrying a cabin got stuck on a bollard.

Resident Arnold Brewer, 54, said: "A lorry destroyed the central reservation earlier in the morning.

"The management didn't learn from that and at 3pm another lorry snagged itself on the same central reservation, effectively blocking Windmill Road to traffic for the rest of the afternoon."

The fire engine came across the blockage while on its way to put out a burning bush in Arlington Drive, Marston, at 3.30pm.

A fire service spokesman said: "It was very frustrating."