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We're on the road to nowhere

28th October 2004
Page 68
Page 68, 28th October 2004 — We're on the road to nowhere
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Ray Dickson of F Dickson Transport has his say on the infrastructure that makes running trucks in the South-East a daily nightmare.

0 n many afternoons, particularly during these dark wet days, as my drivers return battle-scarred from the stressful profession of driving a truck in the most congested area of Western Europe,! often feel like a marriage guidance counsellor.

Why is it necessary to spend several hours a day stuck nose to tail in a traffic jam on the largest car park in the world the M25 surrounded by frustrated fellow drivers with the radio playing Road to Nowhere while our Continental counterparts are able to drive on decent roads with superior facilities?

It bemuses me that the planners of the M25 have never considered, rather than merely widening the motorway, putting in two separate three-lane carriageways running parallel: the original lanes for through traffic and a new 'shorthaul' outer carriageway.The obvious benefit would be that when an accident occurs the traffic could be diverted onto the unaffected outer section.

This would prevent the familiar scenario, which my drivers frequently face, of a whole chunk of the M25 together with a 20-mile catchment area becoming gridlocked.

It also makes you wonder why the M25 has no service area for 80 miles. It would not have been beyond reason to have rest areas at 15-mile intervals providing drivers with toilet facilities and giving mobile snack wagons the chance to offer cheaper food than the motorway services areas.

At present my drivers are forced to deviate from their optimum route all too often just to find somewhere to stop.

As for routes into central London, they seem designed to increase the blood pressure. Our local council has reduced the A23 northbound down to one lane for the past five months and then they decide to install a bus lane for the six buses an hour which travel on this route. It just seems to defy logic.

Lower than taxis

Why are trucks banned from using bus lanes? Are we so unimportant that our presence on the roads is less valuable than a taxi?! think it's about time operators began to lobby the government on this issue.

Even worse than driving into London is trying to park when you finally get there. Parking attendants on commission will usually detect a stationary truck within minutes, like piranhas sensing blood in the water. This week a driver inWC1 was issued with a parking ticket for pulling onto the kerb to allow an ambulance to get through.And we haven't made mention of the day's work yet... •

Tags

People: Ray Dickson
Locations: London

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