MOTORISTS experienced hours of traffic chaos after a car crashed into a wall and damaged gas mains.

The A3049 Ringwood Road in Poole was closed in both directions between Alderney roundabout and Mountbatten roundabout yesterday.

Emergency services were called to reports of a single-vehicle crash shortly after 10pm on Monday.

A car had collided with a tree and a brick wall, which led to raised gas mains being damaged.

Dorset Police said a 28-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of driving offence and released under investigation.

Four fire engines attended the crash and placed a 60-metre cordon around the scene to allow SGN engineers to make the area safe.

Initially gas company team’s work was required to allow the vehicle involved to be removed.

The gas supply to the nearby Miller and Carter restaurant was cut off due to the damage.

SGN spokesperson Dan Brown said engineers were working to repair the network in the area after the car had collided with gas pressure regulating infrastructure.

In a statement yesterday afternoon, Mr Brown said: "The leaks on our gas regulating equipment as a result of yesterday morning’s vehicle collision have been fixed and it was safe to reopen A3049 Ringwood Road shortly before 11am."

He said maintenance teams remained on site in the afternoon working to carry out permanent repairs to a gas governer.

Once complete, engineers will be able restore the gas supply to Miller and Carter. SGN hoped this would be completed late yesterday.

The road closure during the Tuesday morning rush hour caused traffic chaos across Poole.

Motorists faced prolonged journeys and frustration due to the emergency works. Traffic was extremely slow moving on diversion routes, including in the Alder Hills area.

Drivers heading towards the Mountbatten roundabout reportedly only became of the closure when they got to the roundabout.

This meant they had to U-turn and find alternative routes, adding to the heavy congestion.