DRIVERS suffered heavy delays this morning after line-painting work over-ran at Oxford's Botley interchange - because of the hot weather.

There were heavy tailbacks after contractors kept the slip road to the northbound carriageway of the A34 shut after working there overnight.

The closure forced traffic heading north to divert south on the dual carriageway to the Hinksey Hill interchange before travelling north.

There were major tailbacks on the A34 and on the A420 approaching the Botley interchange.

Stuart Thompson, a spokesman for the Highways Agency, said resurfacing and line-painting work over-ran due to the hot weather.

He said: "It was the hottest night of the year last night and unfortunately the new road surface did not set, so the work over-ran.

"We usually do work overnight to minimise delays, and this work should have finished at 5am.

"One lane of the slip road to the northbound carriageway has now been reopened but we can not say yet when it will be fully reopened."