THE chaotic crossroads at Wycombe Marsh could be running smoothly by June when the council re-sets its traffic lights.

Since the retail park lights were installed in 2004 they have caused problems for drivers turning onto the London Road, High Wycombe.

Motorists coming from Micklefield Road have a nine second dash to get out while those leaving the retail park have just seven seconds to escape - but are kept on red for nearly a minute and a half. It has resulted in accidents and heated arguments.

But Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC) is hoping to solve the problems with the lights by upgrading the computer system used to control them. It will control them based on the amount of traffic waiting rather than the time of day, which is how the system currently works.

Residents living near the crossroads say drivers are constantly jumping the lights and often see minor accidents.

Liz Myhill, 21, who lives in the flats next to the lights, said: "We have had two in the last month.

"If people aren't paying attention when the lights go green and you miss it people tend to get quite vented. Everyone's pushing to get through those lights, all it takes is for one of you not to pull away quick enough and you end up with something pretty nasty going on."

Staff at the park have seen the lights have a knock on effect on their business and journey times.

Steve Tavender, 19, from Totteridge Lane works at Fitness First.

He said: "During rush hour it stops people getting into the club, definitely. People will stop joining up at the club based on the fact they can't get in during rush hour."

Tony Blackmore, team leader for strategic traffic management at BCC, said the council had not done anything about the lights as they were installed by retail park developer, Kennet Properties, and it was up to them to put it right.

He said: "The county council have refused to accept the system to be handed over as public road."

Mr Blackmore said things had gone wrong with the lights because the developers did not make the right estimates about what kind of control system they would need when the retail park opened.

Because of this BCC believes there is now a mis-match between the system used to control the lights and the amount of cars going through them, meaning they cannot cope with all the traffic.

"We have been in long term negotiations with the developers to try and come up with a scheme to resolve that. The developers have now agreed to commission the county council to come up with a new scheme to try and get it to work."

"We're hopeful that probably in the next two months we'll be able to implement that and that's all being funded by the developers. It's not acceptable for us to be using public money to put right a private developer's mistake."

Russell Carpenter, Kennet Properties spokesman, said: "We are aware of some difficulties with the phasing of traffic lights at Wycombe retail park. Having originally agreed designs with Bucks County Council in line with their specifications, we are working with them to resolve the issues as quickly as possible."