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The grass really is greener...
Page 68
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On a recent trip through Europe, Austin Caulfield was impressed with the air of confidence on the Continent, and thinks we should be taking notes
Irecently decided to take a breather from the toils of the M6 to head over the Channel for 16 days with car,caravan and wife in tow Reflecting on my holiday. I have grave concerns that we Britons have lost the plot compared with those on the European mainland.
I'm not just talking roads, bridges and sparkling new trains: there's an air of confidence among our Continental colleagues that seems strangely absent on this side of the water.
Firstly. delays —during 2,000 miles of driving we were held up for all of about 10 minutes. Second.cleanliness— every road, autoroute. toll,bridge and tunnel was clean and beautifully decorated with flowers.Third, facilities —the motorway service areas offer value for money and comprehensive facilities for drivers including free parking, clean showers and a 'plat de jour' for £7 including a bottle of drinkable wine.There was not a pie, plate of cold chips or greasy bacon sarnie in sight.
Roads ahead
And as for road building— well, that's also a different matter on the Continent.The Thelwall Viaduct near Warrington took five years to build and another five years to repair.Across the Channel, a similar bridge over the Loire at Nantes took just 20 months from start to finish.
Ten years ago, when I started using the 121A from Irun to Pamplona in Spain, it was 60 miles of pure switchback and took over two-and-half hours to get over the Pyrenees. Five years later, a project to build a good road over the top began with eight tunnels and a similar amount of bridges over gorges 1,000 feet deep.This is now a route that makes driving a pleasure with views to write home about .I don't believe English engineers could ever take on such a project and make it work or deliver it on time. And don't start saying "there's plenty of space and no traffic over the pond";France and Spain have thousands of big hauliers who ply their trade six days a week.
On the Continent, the police also command respect —if you speed,jump a red light or go over your drivers' hours, you will be punished.The officer may not speak English, nor you his native language. But be sure he will make you understand that if you wish to carry on to your destination you will have to pay.It's not exactly rocket science,just a simple system that works.
I'm not a politician,just an ordinary truck driver. hut! know the score.
One thing is for sure: we are already 20 years behind our neighbours. If we don't get a decent road network, a rail system that works and buses that run on time we will still be sitting on motorways watching the barges go by 10 years from now.
There no easy way to reverse 20 years of under-investment by successive governments.We see the result every day as we sit in our trucks —lanes of stop/start traffic. Progress — what progress? •