Traffic problems in Aylesford are set to continue as problems with a London railway bridge will not be fixed until after Christmas.

Queues regularly build up as a result of the crossing on Station Road being down for prolonged periods.

This has been made worse in recent weeks as issues with a bridge in Lewisham has meant that freight trains have been diverted away from that bridge and down the Medway Valley Line.

Disgruntled residents have been having to deal with the issues for almost a month, and are now being told there will be no let-off until the new year.

Tracey Crouch MP has been in frequent contact with Network Rail to see when her constituents can expect some reprieve, and took to Facebook to air her disgust when she found out the news.

"This is simply unacceptable from Network Rail," she wrote.

The Chatham and Aylesford MP included Network Rail's full email to her in the post.

It stated: "The works in Lewisham were originally estimated to require three weekends of work, or possession as we call it, which means Network Rail takes control of a section of track and no services can run through that section. The most recent possession was last weekend.

"However, we are finding it difficult to find enough time over the weekend during this busy period leading up to Christmas because this requires a full closure of the line and would prevent the increased number of passengers using weekend services for shopping and visiting central London.

"Therefore it is estimated that in order to take advantage of the planned closure of parts of the route over the Christmas period, work will not be completed until the end of the year."

Miss Crouch was unimpressed with Network Rail's reasoning, writing: "So basically, Aylesford comes to a standstill every morning because people like to go shopping in London at the weekend."

She finished her post outlining that she is not sure what else she can do, but plans to send the information she had been given on to the emergency services, as she is beginning to worry that "the barriers being down for so long and the traffic chaos is a threat to life and property".

Miss Crouch also plans to write to Chris Grayling MP, the Transport Secretary.