A LORRY spillage in Newport took more than four and a half hours to clear up yesterday, leaving thousands of motorists suffering long delays after a mix-up over recovery firms.

The scrap metal lorry overturned at the entrance to the eastbound carriageway of the Southern Distributor Road at Ebbw Bridge roundabout, spilling five tonnes of metal on to both sides of the road.

Within 15 minutes of the accident at 12.45pm a recovery team from Walls arrived, but were PREVENTED from clearing the debris by police because they do not hold the accident recovery contract with the Gwent force.

Because police were called to the incident Walls were effectively barred from carrying on with the clean-up operation.

It took a further hour - with traffic coming to virtual gridlock around the city - before the authorised firm, Chris Spiteri and Son, were able to arrive at the scene and begin the work.

The road was not cleared until 5.20pm, after an afternoon of traffic chaos in city streets.

The furious owner of Walls, John Wall, said that his company was called to the scene by highway maintenance contractor Ringway, who manage the SDR and had dispatched two heavy recovery vehicles, a service van and a JCB.

He said: "I'm disgusted by what happened. It is ridiculous that we were turned away. We would have had it wrapped up by 2pm.

"The police say the situation is the best one for the public but it's the public who have lost out."

Walls were stood down by officers because they do not have the recovery contract for vehicles involved in incidents where the police have been called.

Walls' recovery service arrived at the scene within 15 minutes of the DT Hunkin lorry overturning and shedding its load.

Officers were ordered to turn Walls away at 2pm and had to call for their contracted recovery firm, who then arrived at 3pm.

Mr Wall said: "We could have cleared the scrap from the westbound carriageway within ten minutes."

And he said he intends to bill Gwent Police for between £500 and £600, and bill them a further £800 for loss of revenue.

Mr Wall's solicitors today wrote to Gwent Police, demanding to know why Walls were instructed to stand down from what was a"standard recovery" operation.

Walls lost their contract with Gwent Police four years ago following a district auditor's report into the way the contract was awarded and handled.

ENDS