Emergency breakdown phones failed on motorways on Christmas Day
Emergency breakdown phones failed across motorways on Christmas Day, National Highways[1] has admitted.
The phones, which are used to call recovery teams, were affected across the North East, North West, East Midlands and parts of the East of England in the early hours of Christmas Day.
National Highways said that the issue was fixed within a matter of hours.
National Highways used screens across the affected areas of the network to notify drivers of the issue, and sent messages across its social media accounts to alert motorists.
Jon Allen, the national network manager at National Highways, said: “On Monday (Dec 25) we experienced some technology issues with our emergency roadside telephones. This was investigated and resolved as a priority within a matter of hours.
Traffic officers patrolled road network
“Road users could still call our customer contact centre for assistance using their mobile phone.
“Our traffic officers actively patrolled our road network and would stop and go to the assistance of any vehicle breakdown they came across while our control room operators continued to monitor the network using CCTV.”
National Highways, which is responsible for the management of England’s motorways and A-roads, said systems that were critical to safety were unaffected while the phones were down.
It also insisted that the majority of people used their mobile phones to make National Highways aware that they had broken down.
The number for the breakdown service is displayed across the motorway network.
Despite more than 21 million journeys taking place in the week leading up to Christmas Day, the day itself is usually one of the quietest of the year on the roads.
However, the level of traffic is expected to ratchet up over today and the coming days as people make their return trips.
Rail services reduced
This was also due to be exacerbated with some rail services reduced on Wednesday.
Paddington Station is also closed until Dec 28 meaning that many of those travelling to and from the South West of England may opt for the car, due to the lack of trains into the capital.
South Eastern services from Kent to Victoria are also being diverted to Blackfriars and Waterloo, due to ongoing work at Victoria.
On Tuesday, National Highways Traffic alerts were showing a total 14 “severe” traffic notices across the strategic road network. These are traffic jams with delays of 10 minutes or more.
The longest expected delays were on the M25 around London, with motorists travelling anti-clockwise between junction 3 and junction 2 facing 30 minute delays.
The M53 near Liverpool also saw tailbacks with those travelling near junction 11 also facing delays of 30 minutes and more.
References
- ^ National Highways (www.telegraph.co.uk)