Gangs cause traffic jams to sell roses to drivers

London: Squeegee gangs are deliberately bringing chaos to some of London's busiest junctions by sabotaging traffic lights.

Their hold-ups have caused tailbacks up to a mile long and have forced engineers to entomb vulnerable electrical cabling in concrete as a deterrent.

Contractors said that members of the mainly east European gangs slice through the cabling with craft knives or hacksaws.

Frequent target

Despite automatic override systems, the lights lose their ability to "read" the traffic and respond so that queues do not form, causing vehicles to grind to a halt.

With the traffic stationary, gang members leap into the road and clean windscreens in return for cash or offer roses for sale.

The most frequent target of the gangs is the junction of the A1 and the North Circular at Henlys Corner, one of the capital's busiest junctions where 10 lanes of traffic converge.

Attacks

One contractor said there had been at least a dozen attacks on traffic lights over the past three years.

He said: "They get access to the cables by removing manhole covers and climbing down the shafts our engineers use to access the cables. You can see that they have cut the cables with a craft knife or hacksaw."