There is heavy traffic in the Laira Bridge area after people flocked to Chelson Meadow tip this morning.
Traffic and travel monitoring system, Inrix, is also reporting a two-vehicle collision nearby, but this is yet to be confirmed.
One motorist trapped in the queues has described the scenes as “shambolic”.
As a result the council has now temporarily closed the recycling centre.
Plymouth City Council has urged people to avoiding visiting the recycling centre, which is yards away from the reported crash site.
The council said that the centre is “very busy” and it has had to close temporarily to allow queues to clear.
A spokesperson said: “Chelson Meadow recycling centre is very busy today and we are having to close temporarily to allow queues to clear. If your trip is not urgent please visit another day.”
The stuck motorist told PlymouthLive: “Shambolic scenes at Chelson Meadow. They whole road is blocked up. They are trying to direct cars back out. They’ve closed the tip for at least two hours because of the traffic. Police are apparently on their way.”
Live traffic and travel service Inrix reports: “A379 Laira Bridge Road partially blocked, heavy traffic due to accident, two vehicles involved near Laira Bridge.
One driver told Plymouth Live there have been huge delays in the area all day, which ‘makes you hardly believe the lockdown was still on’.
Both recycling centres remain open throughout the third national lockdown.
Chelson Meadow is open between 8.30am and 5.30pm seven days a week.
Queues for Chelson Meadow on Monday
One driver expressed their disbelief at the queues. They told us: “I drove past The Ride this morning at around 9.30am and there were vehicles was queuing right back up to Billacombe Road.
“But going past a few hours later at around 1pm and the queue has lengthened and stretched across the whole of Laira Bridge and back further along Embankment Lane and Laira Bridge Road.
“It’s jamming up the streets around the bridge as well so that motorists wanting to turn right from Finnigan Road are getting stuck in the jams.
“You’d hardly believe the lockdown was still on. Either everyone’s taking a year’s worth of garden waste and their Christmas trees in for composting or there’s been a lot of DIY work done in the last few days.”
Another said: “Accessing the tip every other day is not much of an inconvenience. Waiting in a polluting queue for over an hour!”
There were similar scenes on Saturday, where cars were reportedly being turned away due to the sheer size of the queues.
There were “around 50 or 60 cars waiting to get out”, one driver told us.
Plymouth Highways tweeted at 10.32am on Monday: “Traffic is currently very slow heading towards Plymstock on Laira Bridge due to large amounts of traffic trying to access Chelson Meadow Recycling Centre”.
Traffic website Inrix reports: “Slow traffic due to due to traffic queuing for the recycling centre on A379 Laira Bridge Road in both directions near Chelson Meadow Recycling Centre.
“Recycling centre remains open during lockdown”.
Huge queues for The Ride in Plymstock (Image: Submitted)
A spokesperson for Plymouth City Council said: “We have put a message out on our Facebook page asking people to think about how essential their trip is and if it is, to think about going when it is less busy – which is either earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon.
“We had to close Chelson Meadow for a few hours over the weekend to help reduce the queues and the good weather today means we are really busy again.
“Staff are not able to help unload or carry waste, so please only take items you can handle without help. We are still in a national lockdown with social distancing measures in place and visitors are asked to maintain a two-metre distance from each other and staff at all times.
“Chelson Meadow Recycling Centre is open from 8.30am to 5.30pm, seven days a week and Weston Mill Recycling Centre is open from 8.30am to 5.30pm every Saturday and Sunday.”
Live traffic and travel updates on Chelson Meadow and the A38 in Plymouth continue here.
