A road closure that caused traffic misery for motorists yesterday around Dereham will only take place between the hours of 7pm and 6am until the end of the week, Norfolk County Council has confirmed.

Contractors from National Grid and UK Power Networks closed the road yesterday to start planned works on High Street, between Norwich Street and Church Street, but were ordered to reopen the road and start work later, in accordance with the terms of their permit.

Traffic was so bad around town that customers at Tesco were struggling to get off the car park and staff gave out around 200 bottles of water to those who were stuck in hot cars.

A council spokesman said: 'We know this road is busy at peak times, and recognise the need for disruptive works to take place overnight, where possible, to allow work to take place safely and with the minimum disruption to residents.

'As soon as we were aware that the works/closure had started today we visited the site and instructed the utility companies to reopen the road as soon as safe to do so, and return at an agreed time.

'We expect all utility companies to adhere to the terms of the permits and will be trying to establish what happened here. We expect the overnight road closures to be finished by the end of the week.'