Roadworks causing bedlam on the A590 are set to continue all week, highways bosses have confirmed, as they revealed contractors failed to operate the traffic lights manually despite being told to do so.

This morning motorists faced lengthy tailbacks stretching between Swarthmoor and Newby Bridge and delays of up to an hour thanks to "abysmal" temporary traffic lights just outside Ulverston.

The three-way lights have been put in place to allow contractors working on behalf of BT to carry out repair work.

C ontractors had been given permission by Highways England to install the lights only if they were manually operated during the day.

However, this morning the lights were on an automatic timer which only allowed a handful of cars through at a time, leading to six miles of tailbacks.

Commuter Paul Fisher, who lives in Lancaster and works in Barrow, described the delays as "pathetic".

He added: "You must realise how this honestly affects people’s lives.

"It took me an extra 40 minutes to get home to my family last night.

"I chose to come on the train this morning and miss a meeting, it’s not acceptable."

Meanwhile, Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock, a fierce campaigner for better transport infrastructure in South Cumbria, described the situation as "totally unacceptable" and added:

“This error has caused enormous frustration for users of the A590.

“I have been in contact with Highways England where a manager has assured me that as of now the traffic lights are being operated manually to improve the flow of vehicles.

“There will still be some tailbacks, but the situation is better than it was.”

Ulverston Town Council called on Highways England to sort out the "chaos" which is being caused by work carried out by a utility company.

The council tweeted: "Highways England, please sort this out, it's a utility company and it is causing chaos."

Ulverston Town Councillor Andrew Butcher fielded several phone calls from angry motorists and described the roadworks and traffic lights as "abysmal".

Highways England responded to The Mail and explained that they had spoken to the contractors "to insist" the traffic lights were operated manually.

A spokesman for Highways England said: "We approved the use of temporary traffic lights on the proviso that the traffic lights would be staffed during the day to minimise needless queuing.

"This has not happened – we’ve been told today that this was down to a staffing resource issue – and our operational control centre has today spoken to the traffic management company employed by BT to insist that the temporary traffic lights are staffed as agreed.

"The temporary traffic lights will remain in place overnight and will not be staffed during these periods. The work is due to be finished on Friday.

"Highways England works hard to minimise disruption to drivers when it is delivering its own maintenance, repairs and improvements and while emergency utility works by their nature often need to hit the ground at short notice, we expect a similar courtesy and consideration to road users from utility companies."