THE sheer volume of half-term traffic brought a busy Purbeck road to a standstill yesterday.

The A351 from the Wareham bypass roundabout at the junction of the A352 towards Poole was blocked solid yesterday morning, with 20 minute delays being forecast on local radio.

Dorset County Council, which had no roadworks taking place, sent an employee out to investigate and concluded it was the amount of holiday traffic that was causing the holdup.

Some frustrated motorists performed u-turns to find another way round the bottleneck and continued their journeys.

However today resurfacing work is due to start on the A35 both ways between the Bere Regis roundabout and the B3075 Quarr Hill at Morden Park Corner. The off-peak work will involve stop/go boards and is due to last until Friday.