Early closing Friday as cycles cause traffic mayhem

Belfast is expecting traffic gridlock on Thursday and Friday as the city prepares to launch the Giro d'Italia cycling event, one of the world's biggest sporting occasions. It's not so much the bicycles that will cause the problems as the road closures, but it's going to make moving around the city difficult, either way.

Both the General Register Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI) and the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) have announced that they will close their doors early on Friday 9 May.

• GRONI's counter and telephone ordering services will close at 3:00pm. No priority orders will be taken after 2:00pm.
  
• PRONI will close at 3:15pm. As the Giro d'Italia start line is in the Titanic Quarter, where PRONI is based, it's probably sensible to anticipate congestion and traffic problems from the day before.