THE A338 Spur Road fully reopened more than four hours after a trailer carrying a portable toilet overturned.

Traffic was at a standstill on the A338 Spur Road and surrounding roads after the trailer overturned.

The lane of the dual carriageway reopened at 7.46pm after a delay caused by recovery issues.

The driver of the trailer initially organised his own recovery arrangements, however on arrival the recovery service was not sufficient.

Dorset Police then arranged a second recovery, but in the process of carrying out the recovery the toilet fell from the trailer.

After resecuring the toilet and removing the trailer, Dorset County Council were needed to provide cleaning services as waste had spilled onto the carriageway.

The incident took place at Blackwater junction on the northbound carriageway and caused traffic chaos in the surrounding area.

The hospital car park was at a complete stand still since as early as 5pm, with traffic backing up on both Castle Lane East and Castle Lane West.

A Land Rover Defender was towing the trailer before it overturned. 

Delays of 90 minutes were reported from Branksome towards the incident at Blackwater.

There was also heavy traffic on Christchurch Road through Boscombe.

Long queues formed on the A31 towards Ringwood too. 

There were no reported injuries.

The northbound carriageway remained open, but was down to one lane at the site of the overturned trailer.

Police arrived at the scene following a call at 3.15pm and were on the scene controlling the flow of traffic past the incident.