1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156 
It's snow good
Page 7
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Hauliers have hit out at the government for failing to protect roads from the forecasted snow last week, with the FTA claiming it has cost the haulage industry hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The FTR's head of logistics, lack Jackson, who was himself stuck on the M11 for over 20 hours, says that about 20% of the traffic on the motorway was trucks.
He estimates that it cost operators £50 an hour for every vehicle caught up in the tailbacks: If there were only 100 trucks stuck for the same time as I was that has already cost Industry £100,000. Nobody knew what was hap pening. The only thing you can really do is listen to the radio, but it's appalling that agencies failed to inform broadcasters of what was happening so they could tell us.
"I went 17 hours without seeing a gritter and then on Friday morning two arrived at once. About 20 minutes later we were moving. The Highways Agency, emergency services and local authorities need a clear and co-ordinated multi-agency approach in these conditions."
Haulier Terry Swinson, who runs Uttoxeter-based Terry Swinson Transport, adds that nobody recognises that truck drivers can't Just park up and stop In bad weather. "They should be treating the roads in time; the conditions here were horrendous. We still have to deliver to customers." A Highways Agency spokeswoman says the gritters started about 2pm but traffic built up so in some places they couldn't get through: "We recognise the problems that people faced and take them very seriously. We will look at our future procedures."