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Safety survey blasts Blackwall
Page 13
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• Two of the UK's busiest road tunnels, which carry more than 50,000 vehicles a day between them, have come bottom in a safety survey.
Blackwall's southbound and northbound tunnels were ranked 29th and 29th out of 30 tunnels in a safety report from Europe's motoring organisations including the AA.
The survey expressed particular fears about fire safety—despite a fire in the southbound tunnel last year, inspectors found no extinguishers on site.
Other problems identified in the survey included a lack of emergency telephone soundproofing and the absence of speed limit monitoring. Only one of the six UK tunnels surveyed, the Mersey Kingswu made lt into the top 10. "Once again, UK drivers are getting a raw deal compared to those elsewhere in Europe," says AA policy director John Dawson. "Five out of six of our tunnels examined for the survey fell in the bot. torn third of the European league table."
Transport for London Street Management, which is responsible for the Blackwell tunnels, says it is proud of its excellent safety record. The firm adds that lt offered to help with this study but was turned down. A 115.4m refurbishment of the southbound tunnel will begin this month.