FRUSTRATED drivers queued for hours, lorry drivers were caught up in chaos and residents were angered as HGVs rumbled past their doors.

These were some of the consequences of day one of Thurrock Council's reopening of the Linford Household Waste and Recycling Centre today.

Earlier today (Monday, 18 May) Thurrock Nub News reported from the rural lanes of East Thurrock as preparations were made for the opening, which included implementation of a traffic routing system aimed at directing drivers to the tip through Stanford-le-Hope or Chadwell St Mary.

Initially the contactors laying out the signs put them up in the wrong places and at one point actually created a one-way system in the reverse of how it was meant to operate by by around 8am, when the tip was due to open, things looked hopeful.

However, reality to be a different thing. Within less than an hour a huge queue had backed up from the tip on Buckingham Hill Road, which should have been a one way route. However, it seemed the lack of information and signage meant the message didn't get across and included in the queue were HGVs, vans and even cars that were not wanting to go to the tip. They queued, unaware that the road was one way, with one lane reserved for the queue, the other for passing through traffic.

And a lack of policing meant that some drivers just ignored the road closed signs and drove the wrong way.

At around 11am, Thurrock Nub News editor Neil Speight drove the loop he had travelled earlier in the morning and he witnessed what can only be described as dangerous confusion. And there was no one attempting to guide or inform motorists what was going on.

"I had a hope when I went round in the morning that it might work. There were a few hiccups but it seemed the loop route was finally in place by about 8am – but the danger was always going to be there was limited signage explaining what was going on – and some of the signs that were still up, were wrong. Sadly, it became a shambles – and as you can see from the film taken as I drove along, a dangerous shambles at that."

"Ridiculous, ill-thoughout out scheme"

By mid afternoon things had got even worse. Thurrock Council finally appeared to react about 2.30pm when they issued the following on social media: "Linford HWRC: wait times to access the site are now longer than the time left until closing. Please do not visit the HWRC today and visit another day only if absolutely necessary.

"Please follow the road signs and stick to the temporary one-way traffic system in place."

Local councillors have registered complaints, with the most vocal among them being Chadwell councillor Gerard Rice who contacted senior officers after he spotted HGVs crawling through residential areas as 'rat runs' to try and avoid queues.

He said: "You can see why residents and members have lost faith in Thurrock Council and the Leader of the Council who told us this was all going to be OK.

"This ridiculous, dangerous, ill-thought out scheme is causing major disruption to the residents of Chadwell St Mary. I call on the senior officers of the council and the leading councillors to act and stop this nonsense.

"The officers who caused this need to go back to the drawing board and listen to the local people here who know these roads and knew all along that this was doomed to end in the chaos we have seen today."