A BURST water main caused rush-hour chaos in Oldbury on Friday morning (February 15).

Four-way temporary traffic lights were set up at the busy Bromford Lane/Bromford Road island between West Bromwich and Oldbury.

Kelvin Way and Brandon Way were the other roads leading to the island that have been affected.

Road users took to social media to tell of how their journeys were taking ten times longer than normal, with some describing the situation as 'gridlock'.

A Sandwell Council highways alert said: "To facilitate emergency works to repair a burst water main there are currently four-way temporary traffic lights on Bromford Lane at the roundabout with Kelvin Way and Brandon Way.

"Delays are expected around West Bromwich and Oldbury.

"We are currently liaising with South Staffs Water to ensure the works are completed ASAP."

South Staffs Water tweeted: "Sorry for any delays to any journeys. Our best guys are working on it."

They later added that the burst main had been fixed by late morning and that works on 'reinstating' the road would be complete at some point on Friday afternoon but could not given an exact time.

A South Staffs spokesperson said: "We responded to a 9-inch burst water main in Oldbury overnight, which has since been fixed.

"The burst was located in the footpath on Bromford Lane and temporary traffic lights are in place on the roundabout at Brandon Way/Bromford Lane while we work to temporarily reinstate the road.

"We expect the works to be completed later today (Friday), at which point the temporary traffic lights will be removed. We will be scheduling work in at a later date to permanently reinstate the road.

"We apologise for the traffic delays that this is causing in the local area."

Sandwell Council added: "This issue is not in any way connected to or caused by the road resurfacing being done overnight, this finished at 2am."