Solihull Council issues Christmas shopping update after works left cars 'trapped'

Solihull Council has confirmed when town centre roadworks will be lifted after shoppers were left 'trapped' in car parks. Roadworks taking place on Homer Road in Solihull town centre left shoppers unable to exit two car parks on two separate occasions last week.

Multiple drivers reported being stuck in the John Lewis car park at Solihull's Touchwood Shopping Centre ‘for hours’ on Saturday November 9. The chaotic scenes followed a similar incident the previous Monday afternoon, when shoppers leaving the Touchwood car park faced huge delays.

The disruption was down to roadworks on nearby Homer Road, which closed a left hand turn for motorists, causing a large bottleneck. Solihull Council said the left hand turn was expected to be reinstated as soon as possible, with Touchwood bosses predicting access to return on Tuesday. But traffic management was expected to stay in place during the Christmas shopping season.

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Solihull Council and Touchwood shopping centre said reinstating the left turn exit from Touchwood would alleviate any further disruption. Slamming the "unacceptable impact" on Solihull shoppers, Touchwood bosses told BirminghamLive they had a robust plan in place to prevent a repeat of last week's scenes.

Both the Touchwood car park and John Lewis car park are favoured by people using Touchwood shopping centre. One frustrated motorist, who asked not to be named, said her family were stuck at the centre for hours after shopping for wedding outfits on Saturday.

Another disgruntled shopper said he did not move on the fourth floor for "over an hour." A Solihull Council spokesperson confirmed on November 12 that the left hand lane outside Touchwood car park would return imminently, but that temporary traffic measures would be in place until November 29.

A Solihull Council spokesperson said: "We are aware there were delays for motorists exiting John Lewis carpark on Saturday afternoon and would like to apologise for the inconvenience. As soon as we became aware of the problem, we worked with Vital Energi and Touchwood to resolve the situation.

"We are aiming to reinstate the left turn exiting the Touchwood car park as soon as possible, which should help improve traffic flow and will continue monitoring the situation to limit any further disruption.

"All temporary traffic management measures will be lifted by Friday November 29, in time for the beginning of the peak Christmas retail period."

A Touchwood spokesperson said: "As reported, we experienced significant delays for guests exiting the John Lewis car park on Saturday afternoon, following a similar issue for guests exiting the Touchwood car park last Monday afternoon, due to the disruptive roadworks taking place on Homer Road to facilitate installation of the Solihull Town Centre Low Carbon Energy Network.

"Following delays on Monday, the traffic plan was adjusted by Solihull Council and their Contractor, which prevented any further delays or congestion for the Touchwood car park. Regrettably on Saturday afternoon guests were unable to leave the John Lewis car park due to a build-up of congestion on Homer Road. The backlog was eventually cleared by the contractor and a new plan was drawn up that evening to prevent a recurrence on Sunday.

"Despite Touchwood and John Lewis car parks being fully occupied on Sunday, the new plan worked, and traffic continued to flow throughout the day without delay for both car parks." The shopping centre confirmed that following overnight works yesterday, Monday, November 11, the partial closure of Homer Road outside Touchwood would be removed and the left turn from Touchwood car park would be reinstated.

The spokesperson added: "Whilst we are gravely disappointed the works were scheduled to take place at such a critical time for our tenants, and for the unacceptable impact this had on our guests, we are grateful to Solihull Council and the contractor for adjusting the traffic plan when it failed and take confidence from the success of a busy Sunday and further works to improve the plan [that took place] on Monday night."