ANGRY residents are demanding to know why heavy goods traffic was diverted along their Newport street after an accident blocked the start of the Southern Distributor Road.

People living on Mendalgief Road, Pill, said they became prisoners in their own homes after the road became gridlocked and filled with lorries. The traffic chaos was caused by an overturned lorry, which shed its load of scrap on the SDR on Monday afternoon.

Roads around Newport were gridlocked for four and a half hours. Gwent police turned away Walls Recovery, which had been called in by Ringway which awarded them the contract to keep the road clear, and instead police used their own contracted firm Chris Spiteri and Son.

Retired miner Wyndham Williams, 61, of Mendalgief Road, said: "They sent everything up here and it caused absolute chaos.

"We were prisoners in our own homes from 1pm until 6pm. We couldn't get out because the road was chock-a-block. I have never seen anything like it before.

"There needs to be some sort of inquiry because they got it terribly wrong." Neighbour David Price, 60, added: "It was a traffic management disaster. "Instead of going back up the SDR they came up Mendalgief Road.

"There was no control. You couldn't get your car out of your drive." A Gwent police spokeswoman said Mendalgief Road was used as a diversion to help alleviate the traffic building up after the lorry had overturned.

She added: "Much of the area was affected during the recovery and the diversion was a temporary measure until the problem was resolved. "When such incidents occur they will inevitably cause a significant problem to the smooth flow of traffic.

"The Roads Policing Unit, Collision Investigation Unit and vehicle recovery contractors endeavour to carry out their roles in the quickest time possible, whilst taking into consideration public safety and welfare."

l Walls recovery boss John Wall is demanding answers from police as to why the firm was banned from helping.

He said the firm has a contract to clear obstructions on the SDR, and was angry when police used statutory powers to use their own contracted firm.