Operators need Olympic routes
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laura.hailstone@rbi.co.uk FEARS ARE increasing that operators will not have enough time to plan for the 2012 Olympic Games if detailed route maps are not made available soon.
With 519 days to go until the Games start, maps detailing related trafic restrictions are crucial for operators that deliver in to London. Natalie Chapman, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) head of policy for London, says: “We understand the detailed maps are going to be published borough by borough. But freight operators don’t work borough by borough; they need visibility of all of them before they can start planning.” Responsibility for the Olympic route networks in London has now transferred from the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to Trans port for London (TfL).
“How TfL deals with getting the maps to us will set out TfL’s stall for how things will run between now and 2012,” says Chapman.
John Crosk, operations manager at Tradeteam, says that with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in early June next year, plus the Paralympics, which run from 29 August until 9 September, there will be more than three months of disruption to deliveries in and around London next year.
“We need to plan now,” says Crosk. “If there are no-go areas where pubs are, we need to address how we will service those pubs. We’ll need to look at night-time deliveries, and whether we need to hire more vehicles.” TfL says all the maps will be available by July.