The closure of a busy Ormskirk main road led to chaotic scenes outside Ormskirk School on Monday.

And there are concerns for the welfare of some older Ormskirk hospital patients after Arriva cancelled all services through Westhead during resurfacing work on the A577 (Crosshall Brow).

A number of parents - who had all been contacted by Ormskirk School - hadn't read a school e-mail and there were reports of frustrated drivers on Monday morning’s school run - by the afternoon the situation had improved with just school buses allowed to pick up disabled pupils and staff on traffic patrol outside the school.

Meanwhile, one QLocal reader contacted reporter Roger Blaxall expressing concerns about the transport situation for local pensioners from the Westhead area.

Said Mike Coverdale: “The A577 Crosshall Brow will be closed for re-surfacing between 8am and 5pm from 24th to 30th September. Arriva Northwest have advised (via Twitter) that no buses will travel along Wigan Road Westhead, Crosshall Brow or Wigan Road Ormskirk between these times. This means that no buses will pass Ormskirk Hospital either.

“The diversion route for buses travelling from Skelmersdale to Ormskirk is via their normal route to the Westhead end of Dickets Lane. Buses will then travel via Lylake Lane to Bickerstaffe where they will turn onto St Helens Road, travelling past Edge Hill University to Ormskirk. Buses going from Ormskirk to Skelmersdale travel the same diversion route in the opposite direction.

“The loss of Westhead's bus services for seven days doesn't appear to have been published anywhere,” he concluded.

And Borough Council staff were also allowed to use a diversion into work.

In an e-mail, they were told: ‘The Council have received notification from Lancashire County Council that they propose to close the A577 Crosshall Brow Ormskirk from its junction with Castle Lane to its junction with Thompson Avenue between 0800 hrs Sunday 24th September until 1800 hrs Friday 6th October 2017 in order to undertake carriageway resurfacing works. A signed diversion will be in place for the duration of the road closure. We have requested that the County Council reschedule the works due to the large volumes of traffic already affecting routes into Ormskirk with Edge Hill University students returning from summer recess. We have as yet not received a response to this request and we must therefore assume that the works will be going ahead as planned.

Given the above, in order to minimise the effect on access to the council offices it is proposed to re-open the Wigan Road/Abbottsford gates during office hours for the duration of the proposed highway works. The Derby Street entrance will continue to remain open as usual.’