LORRY drivers today expressed their fury at long delays at Southampton Container Terminal.

The huge hold-ups caused major traffic jams backing up on to the M271 and A35 this morning.

The massive queues built up despite the introduction of a new pre-booking system at the port earlier this year, which truckers claim is clearly not working.

Police were forced to divert truckers away from Dock Gate 20 just after 7.30am to get traffic flowing on Millbrook Road.

Truckers told how they had been sitting in traffic for more than two hours and only moved a few hundred yards.

It was the latest in a long line of delays to hit the container terminal over the last few months.

In May the Daily Echo reported how one driver was forced to defecate in a plastic bag in his cab after sitting in a queue for hours.

This morning Terry James, 53, who works for TDG in Hendon, London, said: "It's taken me two hours to go a quarter-of-a-mile. I've never seen it like this in 30 years of driving."

John Dodson, 48, from Elite Transport Services in Manchester, said: "I've been coming here for two years and it's just getting worse. They put this new system in and it's supposed to stop this but it doesn't work."

Colin Smith, 54, a self-employed driver from Salisbury, said: "Most of these drivers are paid by the hour so they don't mind how long they're sitting here. I get paid by the job and my job is going to be cancelled because I can't be in Abingdon now for 9.30am."

John Fordon, 55, who works for Trans European Port Services based at the docks, added: "We're only a very small outfit and this is just crippling us."

David Orrell, south-east manager for the Road Haulage Association, said: "We are very concerned about the length of delays and the affects on our members. There are problems with drivers having to conform with drivers' hours regulations if there's long delays and while they're sitting there drivers are losing money."

A spokesman for Southampton Container Terminals said: "SCT has faced an unprecedented level of traffic in recent weeks that will result in a record month for containers handled during October.

"We expect to handle over 75,000 containers this month in preparation for the high volumes of retail activity over the Christmas period.

"This surge of traffic reached its peak in the early hours today. The volume surge has also been exaggerated by vessel congestion following the difficult weather over the weekend."

He added: "We anticipated a higher level of traffic at this time of year by introducing a vehicle booking system guaranteeing hauliers would be served within a stated period of time.

"This system remains in its infancy but we hope it will steadily reduce the peaks we are currently experiencing."