REPAIR works which caused 'ten hour' delays last month are due to restart after National Highways 'took on feedback' about the closure.

No further full weekend closures will now take place on the motorway, with plans instead to close the motorway overnight.

Families travelling through Cumbria into Lancashire spent all day in traffic gridlock as a stretch of the M6 had to be closed for routine bridge repairs at Junction 33 near Preston.

Councillor Sol Wielkopolski said he had many complaints from stranded drivers and took to twitter to slam inadequate signage warning motorists ahead of the J33 bridge repairs. 

And he said that an advanced warning and proper assessment of the M6 traffic impact would have spared drivers huge delays and uncomfortable journeys.

Gary Knowles, Head of Scheme Delivery for National Highways in the North West, apologised for the chaos.

He said: "We have publicly apologised for the delays experienced by drivers during the first weekend of work. As promised, we have used the national pause in roadworks to review our plan to enable the remaining works to be completed safely.

"We have now cancelled the planned weekend daytime carriageway closures with closures now only taking place overnight when traffic is at its lightest."

Essential work is taking place to remove and replace the existing road surface and waterproofing system on two bridges which carry the M6.

The new schedule of works will start Sunday, October 9 from 9.00pm to 5.00am and will require a series of coordinated overnight road closures and traffic management measures to ensure the motorway remains open during the daytime and a safe environment for both workers and road users.

From Monday October 10, for five weeks, the M6 Southbound will have permanent daytime lane closures with two narrow lanes remaining open during the day.

There will be a diversion using the parallel southbound A6 via junction 33 and junction 1 of the M55.  On occasion, drivers will be able to use the hard shoulder to pass the roadworks at night. 

Works are expected to take four weeks to complete.