It was one of those "beggars belief" situations in Birmingham on Wednesday. Some traffic lights at a pedestrian crossing in Moor Street Queensway had failed badly enough to be replaced by some temporary lights. However these two had failed on red. National Express West Midlands rules do not allow drivers to go through a red light under any circumstance. Within minutes a sizeable queue of buses had built up, along with a number of frustrated motorists. Two National Express West Midlands Customer Service agents appeared on the scene. Calls to the phone number written on the temporary lights solicited no response. The individuals were unable to take the matter into their own hands and had to ring for advice. Unsurprisingly they were told they should stop buses to allow pedestrians to cross at the broken lights, but to wave the buses through the red light. This took 10 to 15 minutes to resolve by which time the centre of Birmingham was all but at a stand still.
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