Northern Ireland

Traffic lights out at Forestside junction as water seeps in

The PSNI were called to direct traffic at the Forestside junction
The PSNI were called to direct traffic at the Forestside junction The PSNI were called to direct traffic at the Forestside junction

A WATER leak in a controller cabinet resulted in the failure of traffic lights at Forestside in Belfast on Wednesday.

Police were called shortly after 4.30pm to control traffic at the junction on Saintfield Road which leads to Upper Knockbreda, Newtownbreda and Belvoir.

This was the second outage in the space of a week at the junction, one of the busiest in Belfast, with the lights also breaking down the previous Wednesday.

Castlereagh South councillor Nathan Anderson of the DUP contacted the Department for Infrastructure (DfI).

"The traffic starts to build up at that time of day and the fact the police were on the scene so quickly helped to avoid chaos, and I would wish to commend them," he said.

"It was also potentially very dangerous as there are six collisions a month on average on the stretch of road between Carryduff and Forestside."

Mr Anderson added: "I will be seeking to find out what happened and ensure it is not repeated."

Responding to the latest incident, a DfI spokesman said: “We can confirm that a water leak in the cabinet of the traffic signal controller at this junction caused the signals to fail. Steps have been taken to prevent a recurrence of the fault."