Rush hour travel chaos in Liverpool and Wirral

May 6 2008

TRAFFIC chaos descended on both sides of the Mersey after a fire and an apparent suicide hit both tunnels.

Police responded to reports of a man falling from a bridge near the entrance of the Kingsway tunnel at around 4.45pm.

Paramedics near Wheatland Lane, Wallasey, discovered the man and, despite emergency treatment by a doctor at the scene, he died from his injuries.

A spokesman for Merseyside Police said they would look atinvestigate CCTV footage, but early indications are the man, believed to be in his 30s, had committed suicide.

His death meant the Liverpool-bound carriageway of the Kingsway tunnel was closed and a contraflow set up on the Wirral-bound side.

A spokesman for Merseytravel said: “There is a lot of congestion around the tunnels and we are doing what we can to get things moving as quickly as possible.

“HGVs and lorry drivers are being advised to use the Runcorn Bridge to avoid the growing traffic around the tunnel.”

“We are working alongside Merseyside Police to deal with this incident.”

The death compounded traffic chaos at rush hour caused by a factory blaze in Tranmere earlier in the afternoon.

At 3.30pm up to 100 barrels, some containing as much as 250 litres of solvents, caught fire at the Pack2Pack factory on New Chester Road, Tranmere.

A total of 10 fire engines from stations in Kirkdale and Liverpool city centre as well as Wirral were called.

The processing area, a 30m by 20m building, went up in flames while staff were working inside.

Five teams of firefighters wearing breathing apparatus were sent in and tackled the blaze with high pressure hose reels. Some 40m square of roof cladding was damaged along with 20m of wall cladding.

Area manager Dan Stephens said the fire was quickly extinguished, minimising damage.

Initially police closed off the north bound A41 before shutting down both lanes for about two hours.

Commuters in the Queensway tunnel were then caught up in a lengthy traffic jams as police closed off the exits to the A41 at the toll booths and tried to divert traffic.

Just as the Queensway tunnel reopened, police were forced to close the Wallasey tunnel because of the death.

Queues reached back on to Islington and along The Strand.