RUSH hour travellers heading home from York faced a "nightmare" journey after A64 roadworks reduced the westbound road to one lane at Copmanthorpe Top.

The result was a massive tailback along the southern edge of the city, stretching around the ring road, beyond the A19 junction, and even affecting the city's A1237 ring road and other local routes.

"It's an absolute nightmare," said motorist John Henry, whose journey to Leeds took over an hour longer than usual.

"The works are all the way from Copmanthorpe Top to the Buckles Inn. It's taken 15 minutes to travel what's not even two miles.

"It's chaos," he added. He said when he got up to the roadworks one worker was drinking a cup of tea and another was rolling a cigarette, infuriating commuters still further.

"You could see the frustration building up on their faces. They were getting really wound up about it."

Another motorist, who tried to go from York to Copmanthorpe shortly after 5pm to pick up a prescription, gave up and turned back after being stuck for over an hour on the A19 slip road and the A64.

And there were queues as far away as the road from Monks Cross to the A1237 northern ring road, while traffic was exceptionally busy on other local routes, including those around Bishopthorpe, Fulford Road and Hull Road.

An AA Roadwatch spokesman said the tailbacks lasted for more than an hour.

Meanwhile there were problems for drivers on the southbound A1 yesterday afternoon, after an accident involving a motorbike led to the closure of two lanes at Hook Moor near the interchange with the M1.

A West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said there were no serious injuries in the accident at about 3.45pm, and the road was cleared by about 5pm.

Nobody from the Highways Agency was available for comment today.

PICTURE: BOTTLENECK BLUES: A traffic jam stretches along the A64, near York, after roadworks reduced the westbound carriageway to one lane, during rush hour