Emergency work is taking place to reopen the A34 southbound near Oxford in time for this evening’s rush hour as SGN apologise for the delay.

This follows overrunning work on the gas network by SGN which should have seen one of the two southbound lanes reopen this morning at 5am.

SGN and National Highways are planning to reopen one southbound lane by 4pm today.

READ MORE: 'Unacceptable' delays in Oxford as A34 work overruns

Bradley Barlow, a spokesperson for the gas distribution company said: "SGN apologise for the inconvenience caused to road users across Oxfordshire this morning.

"The delay to the works was caused after a gas pipe was located closer to lane two than initially anticipated meaning without further remedial work it was not safe to open the lane this morning."

Adrian Beare, National Highways operations manager for the region, said: “We are aware of the delays and the inconvenience this overrunning work has caused for people travelling through Oxfordshire this morning and on behalf of our partners at SGN we want to apologise.

“We work hard to keep our strategic road network open and with traffic moving as freely as possible.

“Following this morning’s issue we have worked alongside SGN and Oxfordshire County Council to put in place a number of emergency steps to get one southbound lane open as soon as possible today and amended the working schedule this week to get both lanes fully functioning again by this Saturday morning.”

The southbound carriageway of the A34 had been closed over the weekend between the A44 Peartree Interchange and A423 Hinksey Hill Interchange for planned gas utility works.

To allow the works to continue, one lane on the southbound side will remain closed this week until Saturday (November 11) morning.

There will also be two full southbound overnight on Thursday (November 9) and Friday (November 10).

These closures will run from 9pm until 5am the following morning.

Traffic is currently being diverted via the solid triangle diversion route - the A34, A40, A4142 and the A4074 to rejoin the A34 at Hinksey Hill Interchange.