Peeved motorists who are routinely waiting up to “three hours” at a gridlocked city roundabout want portable toilets to be installed at the roadside.

The calls come as roadworks at Botley Interchange continue to cause traffic misery for Oxford’s commuters.

Shadow highways chief Liam Walker backed the idea and claimed it would “keep the traffic flowing and bladders going.”

READ MORE: Motorists joke 'four-year-old child' could do better job of Botley Interchange work

But National Highways, which is carrying out the work until early next year, said it would cause too much of a safety risk.

Drivers have suffered traffic chaos since upgrade work started on the bridge at the interchange in September.

Oxford motorist Mike Tustin, 51, has regularly been stuck for several hours at the roundabout off the A34.

In a complaint to National Highways, he said: “Can I suggest you at least put some decent toilets in the 2 lay-bys on the A420 approaches to Cumnor and Botley. 

“Spending two to three hours stuck in queues must mean that your department should be paying for public toilets to help hapless drivers. 

“If you want to avoid this additional cost you and your team need to sort out the traffic management to increase capacity.”

Fellow driver Graham Jones told the Oxford Mail: “It illustrates how bad the situation has got. You would think it was a joke that people are asking for this, but it’s no joke.”

Another motorist, who asked not to be named, said: “If you’re stuck in queues for that long and you need the loo, then what other options do you have?”.

READ MORE: Long tailbacks at Botley Interchange despite roadworks improvements

Mr Walker, a Conservative councillor who is shadow cabinet member for transport on Oxfordshire County Council, said: “Ideally it would be better if National Highways managed this congestion better but it’s clearly right they put provisions in place for motorists stuck in the congestion.

“Porta-loos could become the unsung heroes of these roadworks, keeping the traffic flowing and bladders going.”

But a spokesman for National Highways resisted the calls for portable toilets.

He said: “Temporary toilets along the A34 would present a significant safety risk, as drivers would have to exit their vehicles and cross a live carriageway to access the facilities.”

National Highways has made changes to the roadworks at Botley Interchange as it looks to reduce traffic issues.

The spokesman said: “We are working to resolve the issues with congestion at the A34 Botley Roundabout following a switch of our traffic management.

“We have installed yellow boxes, keep clear road marking and additional signs, which will help keep traffic at the junction flowing.

“As with the first phase of the work, we expect that the situation will settle, but we will continue to review the situation over the coming days.”