MYSTERY surrounds the traffic management around the closure of a main link road in the borough.

Thurrock Nub News reported earlier this week on the closure of Muckingford Road between Chadwell St Mary and Linford while gas company Cadent carried out repairs to a leak.

The company were not able to say how long the road would be closed, but said it might be several days.

Signage was posted in both Chadwell St Mary and Linford warning motorists of the closure and a diversion through more rural roads via West Tilbury (or a longer diversion via Brentford Road and Buckingham Hill Road) was put in place.

Today (Friday, 13 November) Thurrock Nub nNews returned to the scene of the works and found that they appeared to have been completed and cleared away and the road at the point of the works was open - and traffic was passing through.

However, road closure signed remained in operation at both ends of Muckingford Road and the diversion signs were in place.

We contacted Cadent and asked what was happening and, within a couple of hours of our posting a film showing the road was passable, the signs were removed at the Linford side.

However, at noon they were still in place for drivers approaching from Chadwell, with drivers taking a lengthy diversion that they did not have to.

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We have again asked for clarification of what is happening and just after 1pm a spokesperson for Cadent, who appeared as perplexed as many confused motorists, said: "This had been passed over to the reinstatement subcontractors, and the signs should have been removed by subcontractors as well…"

By 2.30pm, the signs at Chadwell were removed!