A FAULT with a canal swing bridge at Apperley Bridge caused hours of traffic chaos for drivers on major commuter routes in and out of Bradford on Tuesday.

The unexplained mechanical problem occurred at about 7am when the bridge across the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which carries Apperley Road, suddenly closed its barriers, causing an instant dead end for traffic heading from Harrogate Road and attempting to bypass the notorious Greengates traffic lights.

Kirsty Martin, who lives in the Moorings off Apperley Road, was trying to get her young son to school and found herself trapped in stationary traffic.

"I left home at 7.30am and it was total gridlock," she said.

"It was ridiculous – the barriers had come down on the bridge and the warning lights were flashing, but it wasn't moving or doing anything.

"A lot of cars use the road as a different route avoiding the traffic lights at Greengates, but they all became completely trapped going all the way back on to Harrogate Road.

"The police arrived and cleared the problem by blocking off Apperley Road and redirecting traffic, but instead of 40 minutes, it took me double that to drop my son off at school and get to my work in Bradford."

Green spaces campaigner, Rupy Hayre, who led the fight against the Simpson Green development, said she had a flood of phone calls from angry Apperley Bridge residents.

"When that bridge breaks down, obviously nobody can get across and I'm told traffic was backed up Harrogate Road all the way to the JCT roundabout," Mrs Hayre said.

"Apperley Road is used as a rat-run by commuters trying to avoid Greengates traffic lights. This aggravated build-up of traffic with the swing bridge broken shows what will happen to the area if there is even more house building."

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) said: "The bridge closed because of a technical problem and, unfortunately, improvement to the Greengates junction is now put back to the end of 2017, which is a delay.

"And the council still wants to build thousands of more homes there. I'd prefer them to talk to councillors, who know, and who have called for, a proper bypass to be built on the other side of the river."

A Canal and River Trust spokesman said: "We apologise for any inconvenience caused by what was a mechanical failure.

"A boater was about to go through the swing bridge, which is all computerised, and he programmed it to open – but it didn't.

"We have had a change in the weather, which may have affected it, but all these bridges are regularly inspected and serviced.

"It was very unfortunate and again, all we can do is apologise."