IPSWICH town centre came to a standstill on Monday morning after electronic problems hit a number of traffic lights.Power to lights in Crown Street, St Margaret's Plain, Majors Corner, and St Helens Street were hit by the problem which happened on one of the busiest days of the year.

IPSWICH town centre came to a standstill yesterday morning after electronic problems hit a number of traffic lights.

Power to lights in Crown Street, St Margaret's Plain, Majors Corner, and St Helens Street were hit by the problem which happened on one of the busiest days of the shopping year.

Thousands of shoppers heading to the town centre were caught in the problems, along with communters, and while engineers were able to sort out the problem relatively quickly it took some time for the traffic to sort itself out and return to normal.

A spokeswoman for Ipswich Borough Council, which is responsible for maintaining the traffic lights, said: “We are continuing to monitor the situation in that part of town and apologise for any inconvenience caused."