Traffic Officer......................Really??

[anonymous-user]

So here is the thing, today approx 3.30pm M6 southbound a few miles before Charnock Services.
I see one hidden traffic officer in a 4x4 perched by the motorway where the Traffic Police usually sit, I am sure he is loving watching people slam all on as they spot him thinking he is the actual police and therefore having a point to his life, problem is though that not 200yds down the road are 2, yes 2, broken down cars with several people stood by there cars, oh and another one northbound with 1 person and 2 kids causing drivers to slow down. All in full view of the "Traffic Officer"
here comes the rant..................
At what fking point do these idiots decide that they are so fking important that they cannot help/assist/shelter the stranded drivers and are better placed to sit on there arses and pretend to be the people they will never ever have the balls to be.
Funny how not 3 hours earlier they were happy to deploy a rolling road block with 3, yes 3 cars to shift a bucket (yes just one bucket as I was the lead truck in lane 1 and witnessed it) from the central reservation northbound at Preston/Tickled Trout junction. Words utterly fail me and I have seen yet more reasons why drivers should think these people are just jumped up morons who never made it into the police and have issues about it!!
I await the usual rubbish,judgemental and justification responses but I feel better for the rant!!

[anonymous-user]

The Highway Man said:

That is why we give safety advice to get everybody out of the car and into a safe location in case it happens, which it does more than the general public realises.

Pity the H/A PR/Management team don't have the 'balls/wit' to put the 'Practice what you preach' Health and safety poster of wrecked and sideswiped H/A vehicles up in services area toilets etc for the public to concentrate on for a few minutes rather than just in their own buildings.


I don't think this thread is going how the O/P intended yet, he'll/she'll be even more mad when they realise it is a disciplinary offence (if caught) to carry someone back to their vehicle with a can of fuel, rather than let them walk even if it is dark and raining on an unlit stretch .

Or that while training/testing there may be up to 3 in a car but only 1 'actually' working/being assesed while the others watch .

[anonymous-user]

You are a gent

I took the 'publication no.' off it today

They don't update the noticeboards very often do they :-) .

[anonymous-user]

Marti99 said:

So they don't actually do anything then? Seems a bit of a waste.

Number one priority is to clear live lanes of vehicles up to appox 3 tonne (anything above is breaking H&S regs, tow strap & vehicle'capability' specs etc) anything over probably is a disciplinary (where caught, don't forget any passing recovery operator who may lose a few quid may be on the blower reporting you, it happens).

You may be right though :-).

The same could be said of paramedics, fire etc sitting around waiting for it to ' kick off'.

I was driving down M6 today and passed 2 lorry ratchet straps in live lanes several miles apart, you have to ask yourself maybe if people were a little more responsible in how they did things I.e dropping debris, running out of fuel in live lanes etc you may not ned Hato's :-)

[anonymous-user]

Elroy Blue said:

As somebody who Polices the m/way, the problem is not with the HA that work on the road. Their management are the biggest bunch of risk averse idiots it has even been my misfortune to come across. The HA staff are now forbidden from moving overturned vehicles or towing cars with caravans. We often have to commandere their 4x4s. The frontline staff are as equally frustrated as we are.

+ 100000 ;-)

I do wonder if they should just hand it back to the BIB, but they have used the ' politics' to cut back too far, I lost count of the number of people on the phone & texting around Biminghams motorways yesterday, the BIB haven't got a grip of that yet before starting on anything else.