Olympics: Games traffic lanes cause congestion for rush-hour drivers

A total of 30 miles of Games lanes have been introduced as part of the 109-mile Olympic Route Network around London.

The lanes, in operation from 6am to midnight throughout the Olympics, run alongside existing lanes and are clearly marked.

Any “ordinary” motorist going into the Games lanes faces fines of £130, while release fees for impounded vehicles could be £200.

There were also severe rush-hour delays on three underground lines yesterday.

One of the affected lines was the Metropolitan which will carry thousands of people to Wembley Stadium for Olympic football matches.

Yesterday’s problem – the latest in a series snags to hit the Tube – was a signal failure at Baker Street.

This led to severe delays on the Metropolitan line between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Aldgate as well as long hold-ups on the Hammersmith and City line and the Circle line.

There were also delays on the Northern line between Morden and Camden Town due to a power supply failure in Tooting.

On main line rail services, there were delays on trains run by the London Midland, Southern and Virgin train companies. This was due to overrunning engineering works near Bletchley in Buckinghamshire.

There were also delays to Central line trains running between Leytonstone and Epping.