THOUSANDS of commuters were caught up in five-mile tailbacks after traffic lights at a major junction went out of sequence.

Traffic in both directions of the M4 motorway ground to a halt because the lights at the Coldra roundabout at Junction 24 failed to work properly yesterday.

The problems began as rush hour started at around 4pm.

All roads joining the Coldra roundabout quickly became blocked.

Traffic was at a standstill throughout the city as motorists waited to join the motorway. Engineers were sent in to fix the faulty lights but it was 7pm before the traffic was moving smoothly again.

One motorist said: "Some people were stuck for an hour-and-a-half before it started moving again. It's frustrating as we seem to be having problems with traffic at both ends of Newport now."

Gwent Police control room Inspector James Baker said: "There was traffic build-up a fair way back in both directions of the motorway.

"We believe it was due to problems with sequencing on the traffic lights at the Coldra, so we dispatched engineers to examine the lights."

The traffic problems come after the Argus reported earlier this month how Newport commuters could face weeks of frustrating tailbacks as new traffic lights caused rush hour chaos at the roundabout near the Office for National Statistics.

The newly-installed traffic lights are being blamed for long jams along Cardiff Road.

They are part of the ongoing construction of the Southern Distributor Road that is designed to take traffic away from the centre of Newport.

And yesterday we reported how a massive reworking of Junction 28 of the M4 was delayed after planners forgot to ask Newport councillors for their thoughts.

A decision on whether to go ahead with a new £15million box junction could have been made last week.

But planning officers forgot their obligation to consult surrounding community councils, so the plans had to be pulled off the table.