AN out of town shopping centre that saw customers wanting to leave stuck in traffic queues for up to three hours has ruled out the possibility of installing an additional exit.

British Land, which owns Teesside Shopping Park in Stockton, said the congestion ten days ago was caused by a problem with the traffic lights.

While it said the option of another entrance and exit was not being discussed, the Government roads department said it had been subject to talks in the past.

A spokesman for Government News Network said: "The Highways Agency has been in discussion about additional access to Teesside Park in the past. However, currently, there are no discussions about this matter ongoing."

Any improvements to the Teesside Shopping Park road network, or additional entrances and exits, would have to be funded by British Land.

Shoppers were stranded for hours on Saturday of last week, with drivers reporting that they were literally unable to move one way or another.

Shopper Jean Smith, from Acklam in Middlesbrough, said she first tried to leave Morrisons' car park on the site at 3.30pm, and it was almost 6pm when she finally got out.

"I have never known anything like it," she said.

"We just couldn't move and no one seemed to know what was going on. And the traffic that was moving just wouldn't let us out to join them.

"That can't happen again. It was horrendous."

Shopping park manager Mike Clarke said he was also eager never to prevent the same problems being repeated, but felt a change in the traffic signals had caused the logjam.

He said: "We would not envisage having problems again like we did last Saturday. There are times when people may be queuing for 15 minutes to get out, but not hours on end like that. I think it's just a case of changing the way the lights are set up." And a spokesman for Stockton Borough Council, which controls the traffic lights, said: "The council is aware of the problems that occurred at Teesside Retail Park and apologises to shoppers for their inconvenience.

"Engineers have discussed the matter with traffic signal specialists, the Highways Agency and the management of Teesside Retail Park.

"A problem was discovered and the traffic light control system has been temporarily changed to alleviate the problem. We will continue to monitor the situation and there were no reports of excessive congestion over last weekend."