Temporary traffic lights put up around a collapsed manhole are sparking gridlock in a Kent town.

The signals on A28 Chart Road, Ashford, were erected earlier today and are causing huge delays along the notoriously congested stretch.

Telecoms company Openreach has apologised for the disruption but says it is a very important piece of work.

“One of our underground chambers is damaged and we’re having to repair it,” a spokesman said.

“Keeping our engineers and members of the public safe is our number one priority, so it’s a really important bit of work.

“We’re sorry for any disruption and delay it’s causing, but we’re working as quickly as we can.

“We hope to be finished in the next couple of days.”

Kent County Council (KCC) has asked for the lights to be controlled manually from 7am until 7pm to ease traffic flow.

The lights are expected to be removed when the work is completed on Thursday (December 21).

Earlier this month, KentOnline revealed how plans to dual Chart Road between the Matalan and ‘Tank’ roundabouts have been delayed after a developer appealed to amend its funding.

Work to dual the road was supposed to start in 2018 when scores of trees were felled along the stretch in preparation.

But constant delays to the project mean work will now not start until at least early 2025, according to KCC.

Also along the stretch, plans for Ashford's fourth McDonald's were approved for land next to the 'Tank' roundabout last year, but work is yet to start on this project.