Sheffield traffic: First apologises over huge delays to bus services across Sheffield and Rotherham

A bus operator has apologised to passengers in Sheffield and Rotherham after a perfect storm brought services almost to their knees.

First South Yorkshire tweeted yesterday evening, Thursday, December 7, to warn passengers all services in Sheffield and Rotherham were subject to delays of up to one hour and 40 minutes.

It said the huge delays were due to a combination of peak-time traffic, previous incidents on the motorway and congestion around Meadowhall, where the Christmas shopping season is in full flow.

While there have been complaints about delays and cancellations to bus services in Sheffield over recent months, this level of disruption appears to be almost unprecedented.

A spokesperson for First Bus in South Yorkshire said that there had been delays from around 4pm on Thursday due to various factors out of its control, which included the M1 being closed after a lorry caught fire.

Although the tweet had warned passengers to expect delays of up to an hour and 40 minutes they said the longest delays had been up to an hour.

The spokesperson said: "Yesterday afternoon from around 4pm, we started to experience severe delays on some of our bus services between 30 minutes and up to an hour on some journeys due to the M1 being closed and a festive build up of traffic around Meadowhall and other retail parks.

"Unfortunately, these circumstances are out of our control, and we can only travel as fast as traffic allows. We understand how frustrating this can be for people and we want to apologise for any inconvenience caused to our passengers affected by the build-up in congestion."