COUNCIL transport leaders have pledged to take action after tens of thousands of people were caught in hours of tailbacks leaving Bournemouth this weekend.

Visitors were stuck for hours in 10mile-long queues on the A338 on Sunday with the congestion continuing from mid-afternoon until past midnight.

Tailbacks on the northbound carriageway stretched from Ashley Heath roundabout to County Gates roundabout and beyond, with congestion also horrendous on the A31 with traffic slow all the way to Cadnam.

Sunday saw a day of delays with queues heading into Bournemouth still stretching back to Ashley Heath roundabout at 3pm.

The situation worsened when a car overturned around 3.15pm on the northbound carriageway.

Several minor collisions and breakdowns later added to the chaos and drivers were spotted reversing along dual carriageways in an effort to get away from the queues.

Emma Wray, head of communications for the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group, was stuck in the traffic chaos on the A338 mid-afternoon for two hours.

“There were a lot of people getting frustrated which is understandable especially when you have children in the car.

“We had just been to do our grocery shopping so we were handing out cans of coke to people in their cars.”

Echo readers also reported other roads around the town suffering with heavy traffic.

Commenting on our website, Poppet87 said Sea Road was gridlocked from 7am until 7pm.

While Baywolf said it took three hours to make the journey from Bournemouth to Poole after leaving at 9pm.

Michael Filer, Bournemouth Council's cabinet member for transport, pledged to take action on the matter.

He said: “I will be speaking to Dorset Police as well as Dorset County Council about the access from the A338.

“Clearly Sunday must have been a record day and it was overpowering.

“It's absolutely unique to have this extent of congestion although we're used to it being busy.

“We will get together with our neighbours as clearly we have to take action. We don't want people to be put off coming to our town because of this.”

Matthew Williams, Dorset County Council's traffic control manager, said: “The volume of traffic seems to have caused the problem with a knock-on effect from the northbound A31.

“We will be talking with partners to see if there is anything that can be done to alleviate the pressure on the network.”

A spokesperson for Dorset Police said volume of traffic was not a police matter but one for the local authority.  Sixty four per cent of people who voted in a Daily Echo poll yesterday said they thought the police should have intervened to help alleviate the jams.

Meanwhile, demand for parking spaces in Bournemouth led to people parking on double yellow lines and grass verges.

East Overcliff Way was one hotspot with grass verges outside hotels crammed full with cars with vehicles also left on the pavements.

The situation was repeated near to the Royal Bath Hotel and in Bath Road.

Cllr Michael Filer said: “This is an area with double yellow lines. It should not have happened and I would imagine our wardens would have been on duty dealing with it.

“That does not take the danger away though and it's clear we need more parking. We are looking at increasing the number of parking spaces and plans are on the drawing board.”

Bournemouth council confirmed all the sea car parks were full early on Sunday and 169 parking tickets were issued. Several commenters on the Daily Echo site yesterday remarked on the lack of parking spaces and Bournemouth council's planned sell off of several town car parks. 

A full team of traffic wardens were working but were also caught in the amount of traffic around town at times, they said.