Overturned truck causes traffic chaos

Motorists in Dublin experienced severe traffic delays today after a truck overturned near the Point Depot early this morning.

The truck overturned near the roundabout at the venue when the lorry became detached from its container at around 5.50am.

"Just under six hours later the overturned truck and trailer were fully removed from East Wall Road at the Point Depot and a subsequent fuel spill was treated" said Nicola Hudson of AA Roadwatch.

"But it was another hour at least before the traffic began to ease", she added.

Gardai remained on point duty to deal with a major traffic backlog in the Port Tunnel and on the M1 from the Skerries exit. North Wall Quay and East Wall road were also badly hit by heavy traffic as a result of the incident.

The incident prompted Fine Gael to call for an emergency traffic plan for the capital.

The party's transport spokesman Fergus O'Dowd said: "A single overturned truck at the Point Depot brought gridlock to large areas of the city. This incident shows that Dublin traffic is still balanced on a knife edge.

"The fact that this happened during Operation Freeflow shows there are still gaping holes in traffic management in the city."

Labour's transport spokesman Tommy Broughan said commuters deserved an explanation for today's disruption.

"The inconvenience caused to tens of thousands of people as a result of this has been immense, as has the cost to shops, businesses and the economy as a whole," he said.

"Dublin City Council and An Garda Siochana owe the public a full explanation as to how this happened."