redlig
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A novelty until it is hissing with rain and you have to open the door.
- Thread starter DanZac
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redlig
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I can only imagine the shock of a first time visitor in a hire car driving out of Heathrow at about 5pm on a Friday onto the M4.
Morrisman
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When I left the U.K. to go travelling, in 1990, I was away for 6 years. Same scenario, I flew in and picked up a hire car at Heathrow, followed the signs for ‘oop north’ and discovered they’d built a new motorway in my absence, the M40. And it was empty, and clear all the way to Birmingham area.
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Had they opened the toll road so you could bypass Birmingham as well?
"They" being who? Our elected politicians I guess... You get what you vote for, best leave it at that.Yes they have destroyed driving enjoyment in the UK. Especially Wales. Black Mountain road near Brynamman is a case in point. Not a single house in sight. No street lighting. National speed limit 60mph. Now reduced to 40 with speed humps and average cameras. Of course Wales also has the infamous 20mph limit. 50mph limit on many sections of the M4. Apparently for air quality reasons. Can electric car drivers speed then? I doubt it very much
M4 tunnels/funnels desperate for a relief road - Welsh government says no due to environmental damage to the Gwent levels. Now they are planning a giant solar farm and 700 houses for the same area!
Remember the goal of certain people in government is to force everyone to use Public Transport. They HATE people being independent. They want the state to control every aspect of our lives
Seadog
Save the planet. It's the only one with rum!
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Sheeples
Morrisman
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That opened several years later I believe. I arrived November 1996, apparently the coldest November on record, and I rocked up in t shirt and shorts….
Nothing had changed in the UK, same mates were sitting in the same pubs, talking about the same stuff. Nobody had any interest in anything else, nobody had any idea what was going on out in the real world, I had to get out of there, it was doing my head in.
I stayed 10 days, and booked a ticket back to the far east
Morrisman
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That was exactly it. One of my old mates asked me where I’d been, first night back, but within 30 seconds of me giving him a quick run down of what I’d been up to I could see his eyes glaze over, and start looking around the room, totally lost and confounded by my tales of adventure.
I pretty much gave up explaining it to people after that.
I recall the M40 opening, in fact I was working as a Service Engineer at the time doing a job in Banbury which finished at 1.30 in the afternoon. I knew the M40 was opening that day so I had the choice of going back down the old road through Deddington to get back to where the old part became the A40, or I would hop on the new M40. that didn't actually open until 2.00 with Police waiting to lift the cones to the slip road. A sausage bap and tea killed some time and I was the first car to use the Southbound sliproad at the Banbury junction. What a revelation, fast and quiet back then. The following spring I recall all the banks on the sides of the new bit being covered in poppies. The seeds can lay dormant for decades apparently and only really germinate when they are disturbed. It was rather pretty.
The M6 Toll was a lot later, around Christmas 2003. I recall being at the opening ceremony as I was the IT Director of the firm of Consulting Engineers who designed it, hence getting the invite. Nowhere near as successful as was predicted and it has done nothing to curb the ever-increasing flow on the regular M6 past Spaghetti Junction.
The M6 Toll was a lot later, around Christmas 2003. I recall being at the opening ceremony as I was the IT Director of the firm of Consulting Engineers who designed it, hence getting the invite. Nowhere near as successful as was predicted and it has done nothing to curb the ever-increasing flow on the regular M6 past Spaghetti Junction.
Morrisman
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I’ve used the Toll Road a few times over the years, and depending on how valuable your time is £6 to save a few minutes queuing can be either great, or a rip off.
It’s a bit of a ‘fiddle’ heading south, as the M6 runs straight into the toll road, and you have to actually turn off the m6 to avoid it. Someone was being crafty when they designed it.
Unless picking up a piece of machinery, I generally take the train. I haven't flown for years. This summer I helped take a small yacht to north Africa and got the train back. However, European train travel is much more reasonably priced than the UK. I've been as far afield as Syria by public transport and the experience has been immeasurably better than flying. Pulling into some romantic station in the middle of town beats arriving at some distant airport any day. However, I had to drive to Norfolk for a family visit a few weeks ago since the train prices for two were astronomical, and once one is there the public transport is not great to go anywhere other than Norwich. Our trains are also very badly set up for luggage beyond a briefcase.
In the National Railway Museum the paintings of Victorian stations with porters, cases, baggage vans and so on show what we ought to be aiming for. EVs are a sop to the have-the-cake-and-eat-it belief that by buying another product we can avert climate change. In reality, they're 2-ton behemoths made of melded composites that get crushed and landfilled after their conflict mineral battery packs and computer touchscreens have done a few thousand miles, and still have one occupant feeling smug about their commute. A 50 year old classic is less wear on the road, smaller and can be broken and melted down into new steel if the worst happens.
Realistically, if we had decent, public transport that made citizens feel respected rather than failures, coupled with local ability to get what we require then the need (real and perceived) for individualised transport would go down. As the saying goes, it's no use complaining about being in traffic, as you are traffic. I do resent being forced into driving because going to the station for a ticket to London can result in being offered a fare that costs a few weeks' wages. In Germany a few years ago they trialled a summer of 10 Euro flat-rate trains (excluding long-distance expresses, but stopping services to the same destinations were included). The take-up meant that the government calculated a significant net saving on road maintenance, crash damage repair, fewer deaths etc. I feel sad that I can't imagine such a forward-thinking approach being proposed here, although there does seem to be some will to look at our arcane fare system. The idea that the train, fundamentally a walk-up, spontaneous, accessible service, should be priced like an airline with variable tickets is absurd.
In the National Railway Museum the paintings of Victorian stations with porters, cases, baggage vans and so on show what we ought to be aiming for. EVs are a sop to the have-the-cake-and-eat-it belief that by buying another product we can avert climate change. In reality, they're 2-ton behemoths made of melded composites that get crushed and landfilled after their conflict mineral battery packs and computer touchscreens have done a few thousand miles, and still have one occupant feeling smug about their commute. A 50 year old classic is less wear on the road, smaller and can be broken and melted down into new steel if the worst happens.
Realistically, if we had decent, public transport that made citizens feel respected rather than failures, coupled with local ability to get what we require then the need (real and perceived) for individualised transport would go down. As the saying goes, it's no use complaining about being in traffic, as you are traffic. I do resent being forced into driving because going to the station for a ticket to London can result in being offered a fare that costs a few weeks' wages. In Germany a few years ago they trialled a summer of 10 Euro flat-rate trains (excluding long-distance expresses, but stopping services to the same destinations were included). The take-up meant that the government calculated a significant net saving on road maintenance, crash damage repair, fewer deaths etc. I feel sad that I can't imagine such a forward-thinking approach being proposed here, although there does seem to be some will to look at our arcane fare system. The idea that the train, fundamentally a walk-up, spontaneous, accessible service, should be priced like an airline with variable tickets is absurd.
ajlelectronics
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The signage is deliberately vague and misleading, you have to be fully alert not to get sucked into it. I did the Gloucester - Lichfield run regularly and had a few "near misses", on one occasion ending up going through Curdworth to get home. I don't believe that it is anything but a deliberate ploy to steer you onto it. With a car and caravan plus a commercial vehicle in convoy, it would have been a ridiculous price to achieve a few minutes time advantage. If the prices were more realistic, it would encourage more M6 traffic away.
when the toll first opened. there was a sign on the junction of the A446 to Wishall. It's a very small village near the Belfry golf course. It's the main road to the A38 and hence to Lichfield. NO signage to Lichfield/A38 at all. If that's not a con I don't know what is. (it's been changed now)
redlig
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A few days before the opening of the M40 I had just bought a ,new to me , Manx Norton fitted with a pre unit Bonnie engine to race in the coming season and needed somewhere to test it . As the M40 at High Wycombe was close by what was more naturel than a quick squirt there. After a few goes a Paddy in a gravel lorry pulled up and said ,in a very heavy Irish accent." Sure I hope you lads aren't doing more that 30 mph cos if we do we get the sack" After a shake of the head and a solumn assurance that we had doing just below the 30 limit he went on his way. Well we only told a half truth as we were well below 130 mph . Them were the days!
Morrisman
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The M6 actually changes into a toll road, that was privately owned when built, and you have to turn off the M6 to stay on the M6.
That's as maybe but the main none paying road should be the one that continues straight. You should have to deliberately turn off to get on the toll road.
