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Commuters experienced severe traffic problems on Dorset and Poole’s roads during this morning’s rush hour when a system failure caused signals to work incorrectly.

Normally the majority of signals are linked through a computer system which means they work together, effectively dealing with traffic flows, both through the junction and across the wider area. However due to a fault this was lost resulting in wide spread traffic problems through the main junctions early this morning.

Steve Tite, Traffic Manager, Borough of Poole, said: "We received many phone calls from concerned motorists but unfortunately were unable to help until the system was brought back into operation just after 9.30a.m. We can only apologise for the inconvenience that drivers suffered and reassure people that the fault was rectified as soon as possible."

While the failure also affected the systems in Bournemouth and Dorset, it was more noticeable in Poole which has more linked signals. Siemens are investigating the cause of the problem.

Councillor Bob Williams, Executive Spokesperson for Environment & Prosperity, said: "These systems are extremely technical and very effective, it is rare for us to experience problems with them. We will be working together to try and establish the cause of the problem to help prevent it happening again. Large volumes of traffic travel through the conurbation and we are fortunate to experience relatively little congestion in Poole."