Chaos as Shrewsbury Carnival fuel spill causes gridlock

The procession began at about 2.15pm but was stopped in Smithfield Street just 15 minutes later when fuel began leaking from one of the floats.

Firefighters were sent to clear the spillage with sand, but the problem caused long delays to the procession, with a knock on effect on road closures and public transport.

People waiting for buses after the carnival were left waiting while buses were unable to get through gridlock in the town.

• See Monday's Shropshire Star for a full carnival round-up

Megan Wills, 20, from Coedway near Shrewsbury, said: "I have been stood outside Marks and Spencer from 2.50pm and I've been waiting an hour and a half for a Park and Ride bus.

"It is obviously because of the carnival but that was meant to finish an hour ago.

"There are quite a lot of angry people, it is raining as well so people aren't very happy."

Megan said that she and her mother, along with numerous other people, eventually decided to take a taxi.

"It means buses cannot operate in the town centre which means gridlock.

"We apologise to our customers, but this has been out of our control."

Chris Pritchard, a spokesman for the carnival committee said: "There was a fuel spillage on Smithfield Road that we had to hold up the parade for.

"We had a road closure in place from 1.30pm to 3.30pm, after that if there is any other road closure it is out of our hands.

"Because it wasn't cleaned up, Shropshire Council made the decision to keep the road closed. So it was closed for a little longer than normal.

"We were obviously upset that it caused travel problems for people but it was out of our hands completely.

"We had been going for about 15 minutes before the parade stopped and we were held up for 15 minutes outside the Premier Inn.

"But it didn't put a dampener on the day at all, it didn't affect the carnival thankfully."

Mr Pritchard said he did not know what caused the fuel leak on one of the first few precession vehicles in the parade.