TWO buses blocked a busy road after trying to squeeze past each other causing delays in Southampton.

A First bus and a Bluestar bus blocked Hinkler Road in Thornhill when they became stuck as they were too close together.

The two buses became stuck at around 2pm on Monday when they tried to squeeze past each other on the road but ended up too close together.

Andy Shaw, Bluestar operations manager, said: “I was called to Hinkler Road yesterday, when two buses became too close together.

"We were able to separate the vehicles - with no damage to either bus. I believe this to be an isolated incident and don’t foresee any ongoing issues.”

City Red spokesperson said: “Avoiding a potential collision, our driver brought the vehicle to a safe stop whilst the other vehicle travelling in the opposite direction continued vehicle manoeuvres in what was deemed an impassable spot.

"This led to a situation whereby neither vehicles were able to progress their scheduled journeys, and our driver alerted the police for support.

"After a delay, both vehicles were extracted without causing material damage.

"As part of standard operating procedures, First will be reviewing the incident to see what lessons can be drawn from this. City Red have been operating safely along this route for many years, without incident.  ”

Now, a councillor has deemed a new bus route in the area "unnecessary" as there are now even more buses in the area.

Bitterne Councillor Terry Streets said: "With the introduction of Bluestars unnecessary number 19 service, there are even more busses servicing and leaving Hinkler Road onto Bursledon road than ever before so potentially this could happen again.

"Although I would like to think lessons will have been learnt from this incident so that it doesn't happen again and inconvenience residents like they did on Monday."

Andrew Wickham, Bluestar managing director, said that buses provide an "essential service" to many local residents.

He added: "We develop our routes based on customer requests and travel patterns, and we monitor our services constantly to ensure they are meeting requirements.

"We welcome healthy competition, and the opportunity for local people to choose which service they would like to travel on."