Nieces school bus was caught in this yesterday full of kids going for a school trip.
Reading lots of angry comments online, but wondering what do the more local of you feel about the delays and processes?
Apparently air ambulances required for heatstroke victims in the queues?
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I'll change my mind if there are reasons why the traffic couldn't be released but on the face of it, it was absolutely absurd.
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One of the photos I saw showed a slip road approx 50 yards in front of the accident that to me anyway, would have been the obvious diversion.
But no idea where it lead to.
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I would think that any slip road off the M25 is going to lead to another motor way or an A road barring service areas and highways access.
For clarity where was the incident.
Was it this?
duckduckgo.com/?q=M25+incident+24+june&ia=web
Last edited by: ORB>>> on Thu 25 Jun 26 at 13:30
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Yeah and you can see from the images the slip road immediately before it.
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I saw a statement from the police: "it's not our job to hand out water".
Like a lot of this country, it seems their job is to find ways of not doing their job!
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>> Like a lot of this country, it seems their job is to find ways of
>> not doing their job!
If the road is closed for several hours somebody should be providing bottled water. If it's not the Police then Highways.
I've usually got 500ml in my door pocket and maybe same again inside the cooled armrest. Enough for a couple of hours but not 6+.
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>> I saw a statement from the police: "it's not our job to hand out water".
Like a lot of this country, it seems their job is to find ways of not doing their job! >>
Would the AA or RAC consider it part of their job if a member asked to be recovered ?
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Maybe I'm just old fashioned? Left Colchester to drive to Dover with a dog in the car
Preparation. 12 750 ml bottles of water behind front seats. Dog bowl for woof. Another bowl and food for woof
Snacks for us too.
If I'm old fashioned enough to care for ourselves and be prepared to look after our dog on a potentially lethally hot day...
I don't want to be cruel to my family or my pet.
Common sense to be prepared.
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>> Maybe I'm just old fashioned? Left Colchester to drive to Dover with a dog in
>> the car
>>
>> Preparation. 12 750 ml bottles of water behind front seats. Dog bowl for woof. Another
>> bowl and food for woof
>>
>> Snacks for us too.
>>
>> If I'm old fashioned enough to care for ourselves and be prepared to look after
>> our dog on a potentially lethally hot day...
>>
>> I don't want to be cruel to my family or my pet.
>> Common sense to be prepared.
>>
Agree totally. Always have a few bottles of water in the car. Couple of snack bars in boot. Blanket or rug + wellies in winter.
Anyone setting out on what is likely to be a record breaking temperature day without water is, bluntly, stupid - no excuses.
Having said that I am somewhat surprised one of the emergency services did not have a contingency plan to hand out water - even if only for economic reasons - one air ambulance trip would no doubt pay for a 1000 bottles!!
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>> I saw a statement from the police: "it's not our job to hand out water".
>>
>> Like a lot of this country, it seems their job is to find ways of
>> not doing their job!
>>
They had not problem handing out stuff to protesters not so long ago.
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I'm expecting to have to go to Cornwall in the next few weeks. Drive there? What, M5 and A30 in July, I'll be taking the train (if I can get past Bedford).
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This seemed to be such an appallingly mismanaged event that I started a thread on a more widely read site which attracted a number of interesting responses........
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=&t=2145019
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Yes, interesting indeed. The (current) very last post appears to be from someone involved on the ground - I'm assuming Highways or similar - and is worth quoting here in it's entirety given his/her background.
"Not really. Things do just take longer than people think sometimes, and sometimes you're reliant on other agencies, such as fire, police or ambulance actually giving you permission to do something once they have cleared it. They have their own guides and procedures I can't really comment on as frustrating as they may seem.
"highways can, should and do drag pretty much anything out of the road to get lanes open, they can drag stuff on its roof, turn cars back onto wheels, deal with the majority of spills, have skids for dragging things missing a wheel.
"They used to be able to drag HGV's, but after a legal challenge can no longer do that, and can't drag accident damaged electric cars. But they do get a lot of pressure to get things moving again one way or another both internally and externally.
"The direct management is generally the ones adding pressure to open, because they have to explain why KPI's have been missed, and more senior management tends to be of the opinion that we should be opening anyway even with some risk, as long as you can put some measures in place to reduce it.
"The procedures have been rewritten and amended constantly, and were rewritten by those actually doing the job rather than a bureaucrat.
"Yes, there's a level risk aversion, because nobody wants to be the ones answering why workers were wilfully put in a situation where they are likely to be injured or killed for the sake of a minute or two of saved time. But the pervading view that highways enjoy closing the road or don't care about opening is completely false, and does discrdeit those working hard every day to keep things moving.
"It's obviously not perfect, and there's a reliance on (often poor) contractors do do a lot of the heavy work but I think people understimate how congested our roads are, and how little it takes to cause a knock on problem.
"And I'd suggest it will only get worse. We won't build new motorways, there's no appitite for the work and expense in building new capacity, and the public won't allow additional lanes via smart motorways, so the country is stuck with either accepting delays will get worse, or reducing the reliance and number of vehicles using them."
Last edited by: smokie on Fri 3 Jul 26 at 12:32
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The M25 SW quadrant is near-torture even in 'normal' conditions. I went to a village on the A24 on Tuesday, 135 miles round trip. 4 hours 45 minutes travel. An average speed of under 29mph. The concrete section between J12 and J9 feels and sounds like having 4 flat tyres when you are actually rolling.
It's about the worst place in the country to have to drive to from here in W Herts, I'd rather set off to John O' Groats.
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Today at 12.30 there was an accident on the A82 at Spean Bridge.
At time of writing it is still closed for accident investigation works.
Due to its location, the detour is 154 miles!
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M25 accident yesterday - Bill Payer
