DRIVERS are suffering misery on Kidderminster roads with some motorists being left stranded for more than an hour trying to leave the town's new multi-million pound Crossley Retail Park.

And the gridlock situation is not being helped by tailbacks further along town centre ring roads resulting from building work in the Horsefair.

With the two locations only about a quarter of a mile apart, queues of traffic have assembled at rush hour periods, in particular as shoppers head towards the retail park along St Mary's Ringway.

Traffic through the Horsefair is currently restricted to a one-way flow and could remain so for another week while repair work is carried out on the building off the A451 Stourbridge Road.

The shopping complex is proving extremely popular as more of the businesses on the site open their doors.

And First Midland Red, which operates a bus service to and from the park, says its services in Kidderminster have been "significantly disrupted".

One man said he sat in his car for an 80 minutes before finally leaving the site.

The problem stems from a series of traffic lights located at the entrance and exit to and from Crossley Park.

First Midland Red commercial manager Austin Birks said: "Drivers have reported delays on their routes because they have been held up at Crossley Park.

"We do expect the congestion to die down as a lot of people are making visits because the shops are new."

The lights are operated by the Traffic Signals Unit, which is run by Worcestershire County Council.

A spokesman for the unit said: "The lights are working fine and it is an unprecedented amount of traffic in the area which is causing the problems."