Cars were backed up in both directions of the A49 around Leominster after the barriers at the crossing on Leominster’s Mill Street remained down for more than half an hour.

It caused chaos for motorists travelling between Ludlow and Hereford from 10.45am yesterday.

Witness Lianne Jones was on her way to Morrisons supermarket in Leominster.

She said: “There were cars backed up all along the A49 on both sides of the roundabout and also on the other side of the crossing in Leominster town.

“A lot of cars were turning round and finding alternative routes and people didn’t know for how long they would be stuck there.

“I was sat in it for about 20 to 25 minutes before an engineer came along and sorted the problem out.”

A spokesman for Network Rail said the barriers had automatically locked down after a fault was detected in order to ensure the safety of motorists.

Ben Herbert said: “There was a technical fault with the crossing and whenever there is a fault at a crossing the barriers automatically come down as a fail-safe mechanism.

“The last thing we want is for cars to be passing over the crossing if it is not working properly as this would obviously be a huge safety hazard.

“We appreciate motorists were delayed by this fault and can only apologise, but we must stress that it was in their safety interests that the barriers were kept down.”

Mr Herbert said engineers were sent to the crossing within half an hour.

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