Cayman Islands Premier, Hon. Wayne Panton, issued a statement yesterday evening (18) taking responsibility and apologising for the traffic chaos on Friday that resulted in gridlock for most of the day. iI it was bad then, the evening was even worse!!!

The Premier said he took full responsibility and although he didn’t know what actually was the cause of the problem he believed it was due to the Pirates Festival Event in George Town where road closures were plentiful in George Town.

“Road closures,” he said, “clearly only compound the problem of the unrestricted importation of hundreds of cars every month. We have got to get on top of the situation a lot quicker. And I can promise you we will be moving fast to try to address this problem. Rest assured, this is unacceptable.”

He also said it was an intolerable disruption to the lives of commuters.

“I am already in contact with the police commissioner,” he said, “to re-evaluate the approval process for road closures to make sure you never have to suffer this again.”

Together, with Police Commissioner, Derek Byrne, “they will be seeking to speak with the organizers of the Pirates Festival committee”, he added.