YORK’S traffic travails may be an everyday nuisance for city locals but one snarl-up almost cost snooker player Daniel Wells £4,000.

The Welsh potter got stuck in a queue on the way to his match with Rod Lawler in the first round of the Betway UK Championship on Thursday morning at the York Barbican - and ended up leaving the wheel and hot-footing it through the Minster streets.

But a good samaritan came to the rescue, picking up the cue-wielding player and negotiating the packed roads to get Wells to the Fishergate venue in the nick of time.

Players are docked frames by the match referee for late arrivals, the number depending on the time they are absent. Wells' clash was set to start at 9.30am.

And despite a terrible beginning, which saw him trail 3-1 at the mid-session interval, everything turned out for the best.

In a match that needed to be reconvened in the evening after over-running its afternoon slot, Wells dug in and eventually came through 6-4 to collect £4,000 in prize money and book a second round match with Ali Carter on Sunday afternoon.

“I nearly didn’t make it to my match,” Wells explained. “I set off with 45 minutes to spare.

“The hotel we were staying in was supposed to be a mile away. The traffic wasn’t moving for ages and I thought ‘we’ve got plenty of time’.

“At 9.10am, I have got a sat-nav - it’s not very good - and it said I am going to be there at twenty five past.

“I thought ‘I can’t risk this’ because we just weren’t moving. I thought I was just going to have to leg it.

“So I was running through the streets, I said to a guy ‘where’s the Barbican?’ and he said ‘It’s a fair walk, it’s about two miles’.

“So I started running. I didn’t get very far and the guy said ‘get in, get in’.

“He saw me with the cue so I was really lucky.”

He added: “When I arrived for my match I was all over the place, to be honest. I (had been) in the driver’s seat and I said to my girlfriend ‘you are going to have to drive’.

“She got in and I am running through the streets of York so it wasn’t good.”

Wells, who played Ronnie O’Sullivan in the UK first round 12 months ago in York, said: “I have never missed a match before.

“I have had a few dreams about missing matches so I think that’s why I was so panicky but I will be staying closer to the venue next time.”

Asked if he would pitch a tent next door, Wells added: “Yes, I think so.”