Crossroads ‘chaos’ in Maida Vale as four broken traffic lights cause three-van crash

Four sets of broken traffic lights at a busy crossroads caused “chaos” in Maida Vale on Tuesday.

The temporary lights at the junction of Elgin Avenue, Maida Vale and Abercorn Place were switched off due to a telecommunications failure, causing multiple reported crashes including one involving three vans.

Maida Vale resident Jonathan Sebire witnessed the van collision shortly after midday and said that passing cars mounted the pavements as drivers “hooted and hollered” to avoid crashing into the damaged vehicles stranded on the road. No one was seriously injured.

“It was chaos,” Jonathan told the Ham&High. “You get drivers going well over 40mph on Maida Vale because it’s a long straight road.

“You have four lanes, two in each direction, and there were people trying to drive straight across that.

“There were buses, lorries, pedestrians, families with young kids, electric scooters and bikes all trying to cross at the same time because the traffic lights were off.

“I was worried someone was going to get killed.”

The traffic lights are temporarily in place at the Maida Vale crossroads due to ongoing roakworks.

Maida Vale councillor Geoff Barraclough tweeted on Wednesday: “We chased this up with @CityWestminster. A telecoms failure put out the lights.

“Today, someone should be on site all day to monitor the traffic and make sure the phasing is set up correctly.”