DRIVERS are facing even more delays as the A34 closure is expected to continue into bank holiday Monday for emergency gas works.

The southbound closure - between the A44 Woodstock Road at Peartree Interchange and A423 at Hinksey Hill Interchange - has been in place since around 8pm Saturday evening.

Traffic is being diverted through the city and motorists have been reporting congestion with journeys taking around an hour to get from North Oxford into the city centre.

Highways England spokeswoman Michaela Maunders said the closure was expected to remain in place until midday tomorrow.

A spokesman for Highways England earlier said the gas leak was found Saturday afternoon and the dual-carriageway closed from 10.45am to 12.40pm while engineers identified where it was coming from and made it safe.

The road was re-opened until last night, when it was closed again so engineers could carry out the repairs.

SGN spokeswoman Hannah Adam said: “We need to carry out an emergency repair to our gas main in a section of the A34 Southern By-Pass Road at Oxford. "It’s essential we carry out this work to ensure a continued safe and reliable gas supply to Oxford homes and businesses.

"We appreciate this is a very busy road and would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. We will be working 24 hours a day to complete our repairs as quickly as possible."

Diversions are in place at both interchanges and warnings about the closure have been put up on the M40 and A40 to alert motorists to the closure.

Traffic reports are still showing queues leading up to the closure where cars have been crawling bumper to bumper throughout the day.