FUMING motorists stuck in queues for hours blasted a second crossing census for causing gridlock throughout Halton last Thursday.

Roadside surveys reduced bridge traffic to just one lane in each direction, leaving massive tailbacks through Widnes and Runcorn, as far the M56, M62 and Knowsley.

"It's ridiculous," said Runcorn dad Robert Littler. "It's taken my wife an hour to cross the bridge. Plenty of us who use the bridge day in day out can tell them what it's like if they ask us. There's no need to create chaos."

Traffic cops booked drivers for crossing the hard shoulder to access blocked slip roads.

Many people missed appointments, were late for work and had their plans disrupted by the delays.

Andrew Kilduff, of Runcorn, said: "A two-hour queue to go less than one mile to the bridge and massive tailbacks to the M56 - how much money must this have cost the local economy through lost man hours and business?"

He suggested cameras could have recorded the traffic and questionnaires sent to motorists to get the information more efficiently.

Peter Ianson, of Widnes, branded the census "idiotic".

He said: "Purely to be asked four pathetic questions about using the bridge and possible support for the new crossing, anyone with half a brain would realise this would cause massive delays."

Cllr Rob Polhill, board member for transportation, apologised for the disruption but said it was essential research demanded by the Government to secure £209m funding towards the Mersey Gateway crossing.

He said: "We know there are hi-tech ways of gaining data but this is what the Department for Transport expressly asked us to do. They wanted a snapshot model of traffic at several locations throughout the region, including Wirral and motorway junctions.

"We try to do everything we can to keep traffic moving on the bridge.

"Unfortunately, this was out of our hands."

l What do you think about the survey?

Write to us at the address on page two or e-mail bjordan@worldgroup.co.uk