Month: October 2023

A motorway services in West Yorkshire has been ranked the worst in Britain for the second year in a row.

Hartshead Moor East is the least popular motorway services out of 120 analysed, according to a survey of more than 30,000 visitors by watchdog Transport Focus.

The Welcome Break-owned site on the M62 near Huddersfield received an overall satisfaction rating of just 84%.

The services is on the busiest route across the Pennines from Lancashire to Yorkshire.

Transport Focus said in its report: “The MSA (motorway service area) has invested in new toilet facilities but, unfortunately, the works were still under way during the survey period and for some of the time had portable toilets in place.

“Despite the building works, the site’s overall satisfaction score has improved by four percentage points, which suggests that there is every reason to expect an improved position in next year’s survey.”

The survey took place between May 17 and July 11.

A spokeswoman for Welcome Break said: “We are disappointed to see Hartshead Moor at the bottom of the list but are incredibly proud of the improvements that Welcome Break has made since last year, with overall satisfaction for Welcome Break increasing by three percentage points to 94%, and toilet satisfaction increasing by six percentage points to 91%.

“During the time of the survey, Hartshead Moor was undergoing improvements and there were temporary toilet facilities in place, but we’re now very pleased to say that the site has opened brand new toilets on both sides of the M62, with two new baby changing units, two new accessible toilets and added HGV shower facilities.

“Therefore, we expect to see a considerable improvement in scores for Hartshead Moor in next year’s survey.”

The joint-second worst services were Bridgwater (on the M5 in Somerset), Hartshead Moor West, Lancaster South (on the M6 in Lancashire) and Toddington North and South (both on the M1 in Bedfordshire).

They each received a score of 88%.

The ranking was topped by Moto’s Rugby services on the M6 in Warwickshire for a second consecutive year.

It was the only location to score 100% after being rated highly for its food and drink, toilets and friendly staff.

The average satisfaction score given by all users of services was 94%, up from 93% last year.

This includes 63% who said they were very satisfied.

Value for money of refreshments available to eat in at the site was a key area of concern, with just 64% of respondents describing it as fairly or very good.

In contrast, some 92% of visitors were satisfied with the toilets.

Transport Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said: “Our survey shows motorway services offer a great experience with friendly and helpful staff and provide drivers with the opportunity to rest, relax and take a break before continuing their journey.

“But there is still room for improvement, including making sure the range of food and drink on offer is good value for money for visitors as cost of living increases continue to bite.”

A driver has been fined after using double-sided tape to stick a leaf to their car’s number plate to obscure it.

Autumn means there are usually leaves on the road, which can blow onto vehicles. However, one driver took things a step too far by sticking the leaf to the end of their number plate, obscuring one of the digits. The driver had done this on both the front and rear plates.

Surrey Police posted the photos on X, formerly Twitter, showing the leaves firmly attached to the car.

In a post, the force said: “There are times when camouflage is needed and can look good. Leaves attached to your number plate with double-sided tape is neither.”

The motorist in a Toyota Corolla was stopped on the A3 at Guildford yesterday afternoon (October 3). The force said that a fixed penalty notice had been given for the leaves, while they had also been reported for speeding.

Surrey police told the PA news agency that the ‘car was seen to be driven on the A3 Northbound in excess of the speed limit and with the number plate partially covered’.

Perhaps not surprisingly it generates several leaf-based puns in the replies. The Metropolitan Police’s Roads and Transport division commented: “Were you in disb-leaf when you saw this?”

Other replies seemed to suggest that other motorists are using the leaf trick to avoid paying London’s ultra-low emissions zone (ULEZ) charge, which was rolled out across most areas within the end of the M25 at the end of August. If the number plate is partly obscured, it means cameras aren’t able to accurately read the registration and generate penalty notices.

Scotland will have to push back its ban on new petrol and diesel cars to 2035 after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a delay to his plan, the SNP has said.

Dave Doogan, the party’s energy spokesman at Westminster, said the Scottish Government will not be able to stick to its target of ending the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 because the country is “snared” into the UK Internal Market Act.

Mr Sunak on Wednesday eased a series of green pledges, including pushing back the ban by five years to 2035.

In an interview on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, the SNP MP was asked how the Prime Minister’s announcement affects the Scottish Government target.

Mr Doogan said: “We will have to move to 2035 because even if the Scottish Government did have the authority to intervene in that particular legislation, which is reserved to the Department for Transport and its agencies, principally the DVLA, we are snared in the United Kingdom into the Internal Market Act, which would see the UK Government intervene in any policy undoubtedly which created a difference between the market in Scotland and the market in the rest of the United Kingdom.

“What we’d have to be very careful if we decided to do that is that we didn’t put our motor manufacturing retail business at a strategic disadvantage by operating in a way that was completely different to that which was in England, resulting in cross-border trade to access vehicles that you couldn’t access in Scotland, so it’s a complex dynamic and of course at the base of all of this is the fact that the UK Government didn’t consult the Scottish Government on any of this.”

Mr Doogan described the UK Government decision to push the ban back to 2035 as an “unprecedented tragedy for the automotive industry in the United Kingdom”.

He said: “The market environment was set out by the Conservative Government in 2020 and industry has been gearing up and tooling up and investing in that market environment, only to find out as of yesterday from the Prime Minister that they’re actually now operating in a completely different environment.

“They’ve been establishing a market supply chain that will provide a greater proportion of electric vehicles by a time of around 2030, where now UK consumers will be in a position to continue to buy internal combustion engine cars, so they’ll have a mismatch between market demand and product availability that they’ve been tooling up for on the basis of Government market instruction.

“I don’t think it can be underestimated how foolish and irresponsible it is for the UK Government to create a market environment and then three years later create an entirely different market environment.”

An urgent question on the issue will be answered in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday.

Douglas Lumsden, net-zero spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said the Prime Minister is being “honest” with people, adding: “It’s about delivering net zero in a sensible way, pragmatic way that doesn’t place all of the cost and burdens on ordinary working people.”

He also told the programme: “We’re not falling asleep at the wheel. If you look at changes to the cars for example, that’s just bringing us in line with the rest of the EU.

“In the key area of us reducing our emissions, we are still leading the way.”

The issue was raised during First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, with Deputy First Minister Shona Robison – who was standing in for Humza Yousaf as he visits New York – hitting out at the PM’s announcement while she was questioned by Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross on the environment.

Ms Robison said: “Douglas Ross is very brave going on this subject today, in a week where his Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has essentially pulled the rug from under the net zero ambitions, not just of the UK, but potentially damaging the net zero ambitions of Scotland.

“That doesn’t just damage the environment, it damages jobs into the process and he should be ashamed to stand side by side with Rishi Sunak on that matter.”

She went on to say that Mr Yousaf’s “ambitions are to meet the net zero targets, showing leadership, unlike the Prime Minister who’s ditching net zero targets”, as she urged Mr Ross to “grow a backbone”.

In response to a later question from Green MSP Mark Ruskell, Ms Robison said the shift by the PM is an attempt to appeal to the Tories’ “core vote”, adding: “Which is essentially culture wars, anti-migrants and now anti-environment.

“What an unappealing, negative, backward-looking, small-minded prospectus that is and it will be roundly rejected by the Scottish people once again.”

The UK Government has been asked for comment.

Councils could be blocked from fining drivers under a crackdown on the “misuse of so-called 15-minute cities”, Transport Secretary Mark Harper has said.

Speaking from the main stage of the Tory party conference, the Cabinet minister announced the Government will review its powers to prevent “overzealous use of traffic management”.

The global concept of 15-minute cities is based on having shops, services and workplaces within a short walk or bicycle ride from people’s homes.

Mr Harper said: “I’m calling time on the misuse of so-called 15-minute cities.

“There’s nothing wrong with making sure people can walk or cycle to the shops or school, that’s traditional town planning.

“But what is different, what is sinister and what we shouldn’t tolerate is the idea that local councils can decide how often you go to the shops, and that they ration who uses the road and when, and they police it all with CCTV.

“So today, I am announcing that the Government will investigate what options we have in our toolbox to restrict overzealous use of traffic management measures including cutting off councils from the DVLA database if they don’t follow the rules.”

Some people believe 15-minute cities are a conspiracy led by the World Economic Forum and the United Nations to use surveillance to limit travel.

In September last year Oxford City Council approved the idea of having essential services within a 15-minute walkable distance as part of its 20-year development plan.

Opponents of the concept linked the policy to proposals for city centre traffic restrictions by the separate Oxfordshire County Council.

Mr Harper did not specify whether the potential blocking of councils from using DVLA data would be limited to those in England or across the UK.

Transport policy is largely devolved in the UK, but the DVLA is an agency within the Westminster Government’s Department for Transport.

The DVLA holds details of the registered keepers of vehicles licensed in the UK.

It discloses this information to private or public sector organisations and individuals providing they can demonstrate a reasonable cause to have it.

Councils use the database to issue fines when their CCTV systems record the number plate of a vehicle whose driver is committing a motoring offence.

The Local Government Association was approached for a comment.

Mr Harper gave more details of plans to curb the use of 20mph speed limits, which were first revealed last week.

He said it “can’t be right” that these zones are “imposed without proper local consent”.

He went on: “We will change the Department for Transport’s guidance, requiring councils to only use 20mph zones where there is a good reason and underlining that 30mph is the default speed limit on urban roads.”

Mr Harper added: “It’s also time to put a stop to some councils using unfair fines as a money spinner.

“We’ll put a stop to councils profiting from traffic offences, clawing back revenue and removing any temptation to exploit you for profit.”

Mr Harper reiterated that “no Government money” would be used to fund low traffic neighbourhoods – where motorised vehicles are banned from some streets – and pledged to “help councils tackle the menace of potholes”.

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “Being clearer with councils on important issues that affect drivers around traffic management – whether that’s the use of 20mph limits, implementing low traffic neighbourhoods or the enforcement of yellow boxes – is positive as, after all, eight in 10 say they would struggle to get by without a car.

“These measures will hopefully bring some much-needed consistency to how drivers are treated, as well as avoiding situations where potholes get left unattended for months.”

Nicholas Lyes, director of policy at charity IAM RoadSmart, said: “While broadly being good news for drivers and riders, scrapping certain policies shouldn’t mean that road safety is sacrificed at the altar of getting vehicles moving.

“Locally led schemes which reduce collisions on our roads, such as targeted 20mph limits, need to be supported with good quality infrastructure.

“The Government needs to be clear in its guidance and allow local authorities to push forward with schemes to reduce road casualties.”

Putting in place “blanket” 20mph speed limits means drivers are less likely to slow down on roads where there is a school or children are playing, the Transport Secretary has said.

Mark Harper said widespread use of a 20mph limit “damages the ability” for the zones to have an impact on roads where a lower speed is required for safety reasons because drivers are “less likely to comply”.

The Department for Transport (DfT) announced on Friday that guidance would be reviewed on the use of 20mph limits in England to “prevent their blanket use in areas where it is not appropriate”.

It comes after the Labour-run Welsh Government dropped the default speed limit from 30mph to 20mph for restricted roads in a move it predicts could save up to 100 lives and 20,000 casualties in the first decade.

The Transport Secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We want to stick with the position where 20mph speed limits make perfect sense, for example, outside a school or in a heavily built-up area where you might have children playing in a residential area or where there is a particular issue with accidents.

“In those areas it makes perfect sense.

“What we are against, and what we are looking at strengthening guidance about, is avoiding the blanket imposition of a 20mph speed limit like we’ve seen in Wales.”

He said 20mph had been imposed “irrelevant to the conditions” on some roads in Wales.

Mr Harper added: “(That) makes life harder for drivers, doesn’t deliver any benefits, actually damages the ability of 20mph speed limits to make people safer because if you put them in inappropriate places, actually people are less likely to comply even when they make sense.”

The Conservative Cabinet minister told Times Radio that a study commissioned by the DfT indicated a reduction to 20mph “doesn’t actually make much difference” to driver speeds.

The study published in November 2018 found 20mph limits in residential areas were supported by the majority of residents and drivers.

The report concluded there was no evidence of a significant drop in the number of crashes and casualties after the introduction of 20mph limits.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “slamming the brakes on the war on motorists” after announcing a slew of pro-driving policies ahead of the Tory conference, starting in Manchester on Sunday.

He tweeted: “We are a nation of drivers.

“Most of us use a car every day and, for many, life would be difficult without their car.

“But too often, drivers feel under attack. That changes today with a long-term plan to improve drivers’ experience on the road.”

The package of measures, as well as stronger guidance on 20mph speed limits, will also include similar action on low traffic neighbourhoods in England to “focus on local consent”, according to DfT officials.

A National Parking Platform pilot will be rolled out, meaning drivers should only have to use one app to pay for parking instead of downloading multiple versions.

Charges will be applied on utility firms that dig up roads during peak times, with the extra money used to fix potholes.

Guidance will be strengthened to make sure bus lanes only operate “when necessary” and a consultation will be launched on motorcycles using bus lanes, the DfT has confirmed.

Labour’s shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh — referencing the criticism Mr Sunak received after saying he had scrapped a policy of households needing seven bins — said the 20mph announcement was “yet another ban on something that doesn’t exist”.

She tweeted: “Mark Harper cannot offer a single example of a 20mph zone that will change under this announcement.”

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “It’s extremely positive to see issues that affect the nation’s 33 million car drivers being given such prominence ahead of a general election.

“At the same time, it is important to consider the needs of all road users, particularly as many drivers can also be pedestrians, cyclists and bus riders, and vice versa.

“While this will always be a balancing act we have to match competing priorities such as safety, time-efficient travel with tackling traffic congestion and improving air quality.”