Williams pays for M4 chaos
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• Traffic congestion on the M4 has forced haulier T I) Williams out of its Port Talbot depot, with seven redundancies.
"Traffic is jammed at the Briton Ferry Bridge between 7-9am and about 4.30-6pm," says company director Andrew Williams. "We were paying our depot staff alone around 2250 a week in overtime, and with that and he downturn in business, we've had to shut the depot. It's cost us in total at least £20,000."
Following the move, 26 of the company's 38-tonners have been moved back to its headquarters at Cross Hands, Dyfed, and the remaining seven vehicles have been sold. Williams opened its Talbot depot in August last year, mainly to service a British Steel contract. but Williams says that traffic chaos in the M4 "missing link" area, has grown worse in the past year.
The family firm has six depots, five in Wales and one in Droitwich, with 115 vehicles.
The Welsh Office says a traffic survey is underway "which will put the roads development on South Wales into context".
Tenders have been invited for work on the first part of the link, between Earlswood and Lon-las, which should start next spring, "well ahead of the projected start date for roads in Wales". Work on the second section of the link, between Earlswood and BagIan, is not scheduled till 1991-94.