OVERRUNNING works by BT and an incident at the rail crossing between East and West Tilbury have caused huge problems for local traffic this morning (Thursday, 12 October).

Muckingford Road, which links East Tilbury and Linford with Chadwell St Mary and is a major route to and from the rural villages has been closed for work by BT.

Though the area where work is taking place on one side of the carriageway, BT applied for - and were granted - a day long full road closure to make repairs.

The Traffic Regulation order said: "The Notice will come into force immediately on Monday 9 October 2023 at 08:30hrs and will be valid for 21 days, however, it is expected that the works will be completed by Tuesday 10 October 2023 at 3:30pm."

Muckingfor Road this morning (Thursday, 12 October).

However, for much of the day no work actually took place - much to the frustration of many motorists who were inconvenienced and now BT have applied for an extension of the closure.

The council is reported instead to have asked BT to erect traffic lights and keep the road open but at the moment there appears to be an impasse between the two organisations!

To compound issues, a barrier at the c2c link rail crossing to the south of the village was displaced this morning, possible after being struck by a vehcile, and it has been closed - blocking the second of just three routes to and from East Tilbury.

The only way in and out through the morning was via Buckingham Hill Road and that has caused significant tailbacks and queues.

However, at noon it was reported Network Rail engineers on site at the crossing to facilitate repairs, were also managing traffic flow across the crossing.

East Tilbury councillor Fraser Massey said: "This is clearly an unacceptable state of affairs. I am attempting dialogue with the council, Network Rail and BT in a bid to resolve this as soon as possible.

"It is grossly unfair on residents in East and West Tilbury and I am disappointed with the lethargy I have encountered so far in trying to resolve the issues."