a sanitation truck suffered a spill yesterday.

Police say that as many as nine motorists lost control of their vehicles after ploughing through the effluent near the Waterlot Inn yesterday afternoon.

A section of the road was blocked off for several hours while Works and Engineering staff sanded over the hazard, which was several hundred yards long.

The Public Transport Board had to divert a number of buses travelling along the main artery to avoid massive traffic jams building up during the busy evening rush hour.

It is not thought that any of the motorists involved in accidents were seriously injured.

A Police spokeswoman said: "Minor injuries were suffered from a visiting couple involved in a two vehicle road traffic accident who are believed to have been one of the first victims of the spill.

"Both accident victims were heading west on Middle Road on separate bikes when they apparently skidded on the spill in the road, lost control of their bikes and fell to the ground,'' the spokeswoman said.