Rogue slug brings traffic to standstill

A wayward slug caused traffic chaos after it crawled into traffic lights and shorted a circuit board. Council engineers were stumped when the lights went out and called in contractors after one of Darlington’s major junctions was brought to a standstill on Friday morning.



The contractors found the slug’s body when they opened the control box at the lights in Whinfield Road’s junction with Whinbush Way, near Asda. The lights were fixed by noon after the circuit board was replaced. The control box will be sealed to stop other creatures getting in.

Councillor Chris McEwan, Darlington Borough Council’s member for Haughton East, said he had received a number of complaints from residents about traffic delays. He said: “There had been a few complaints about the lights for the past few weeks, so I just thought it was more teething problems.



"A slug was certainly the last thing I was expecting to have caused the problem. We do not know how long the slug had been there. Unfortunately, it was dead by the time we found it, so we were unable to question it. Sadly, you just can’t legislate for a rogue slug trying to take out Darlington’s traffic system.”