Vandals disrupted traffic at the the retail park in Roman Way by sabotaging security bollards.

Five retractable traffic bollards at the entrance to the car park serving several outlets, including Focus, Halfords, Brantano and Argos, were attacked.

The bollards, installed in response to complaints about joy-riding at the car park, are designed to be raised at night and lowered again in the morning.

However, when workers arrived yesterday morning (Thursday), they found that the locks on the bollards had been super-glued, preventing them from being lowered. Vehicles were unable to enter the car park through the correct entrance and the build up of vehicles had to be re-directed through the exit at the other end of the car park. Emergency services were called and police set up traffic cones to redirect traffic.

Britannia, the contractors which originally installed the bollards, was called out to free the locks but damage to the equipment was extensive.

Richard Bull, of West Mercia Police, said: "We are treating this as a case of criminal damage and will be investigating the incident."