SORT IT OUT - that is the message to council bosses and contractors over Southampton's roadworks fiasco.

The hard-hitting plea from the AA comes after motorists have endured more than a week of traffic misery due to road resurfacing and gas mains works on the Redbridge Road route into Southampton.

Now in a bid to ease the motoring misery extra workmen are being drafted in and they may now even have to start working through the night.

Drivers have now endured a week of rush-hour tailbacks along the main route which has had a knock-on effect sparking congestion in Totton and even as far as Romsey.

The roadwork chaos began one Monday last week when drivers were confronted with cones taking the road down to just one lane from the early hours of the morning.

This was despite Southampton City Council claims that the works, to resurface and replace gas mains, would not even start until after 10.30am.

Council transport bosses also said subcontractors Chevron Ltd had failed to follow their instructions and laid the cones 100m too far from Redbridge Flyover.

But Chevron hit back, saying that although they did start laying cones incorrectly, council staff should have been on-site to supervise from 8pm the night before.

Now the AA has called for the arguing to stop and progress on the roadworks, on the principal routes into the city from the New Forest and the Waterside, to start.

A spokeswoman said: "There are two million motorists in Hampshire who pay £2 billion in road tax to the government. As far as they are concerned, they just want roadworks to be completed as quickly and safely as possible with the minimum of fuss.

"Drivers could not care less whether one person or other is responsible for delays to their journey. Everyone involved in this should stop flapping about and sort it out."

Yesterday the Daily Echo reported how councillors in nearby Totton have had enough of the knock-on effect of the works and demanded action from Southampton City Council.

One disgruntled motorist, Fran Barrett, a reception secretary at Williams Shipping, whose journey from her Totton home to Millbrook Trading Estate took 90 minutes - an hour longer than normal - said: "It was a complete nightmare. I left at 8am to start at 8.30am and didn't arrive until 9.30am. It was totally gridlocked."

Meanwhile Chevron have pledged to bring in extra workmen and are in discussions with the council over the possibility of working through the night, a move previously ruled out due to the impact on nearby residents.

Council Cabinet member for transport & environment Councillor Richard Williams said that talks with Transco, the gas mains suppliers, had prompted the completion date of the roadworks project to be brought forward two weeks to February 28.

"They have agreed to come on site from Wednesday, and are satisfied that this will not pose a safety risk. We do not want motorists to be delayed any longer than necessary.

"I have asked for a full report on what has led to the additional problems on top of what was going to always be a testing time for motorists. I hope to have that report later this week."

A spokesman for Transco confirmed that they would start "drilling trials" tomorrow and complete their work by the end of the month.

A spokesman for Chevron Ltd said: "We are being made scapegoats. We did make a mistake in starting the laying of the cones 100 metres further away from Redbridge Causeway than they should have been, but why did no-one from the council oversee what we were doing? The first I knew of a problem was around 9.30am last Monday."