Has this week been the perfect storm for traffic delays? I’m struggling to remember a worse week tbh. Perhaps it’s lockdown tinted glasses colouring my opinion but I’ve rarely, if ever spent so much time in traffic queues as I have this week.
I say perfect storm because we have people on the roads who’ve rarely driven further than the local supermarket for the last year now attempting to traverse the country, we have school half term and we have lots of people who’d normally fly off to the sun confined to this island and therefore enjoying days out.
All in all I’ve not seen it this bad before.
nah mate, it’s just you following yer ■■■■ nav, c’mon i expect better from you… 
Half the problem is they’ve had the best part of 18 months to fix the roads with minimal traffic, but remembering this is the UK where our leader bosses and betters couldn’t run a ■■■■ up in a brewery between them we’ll dig all the parallel routes up at the same time, and expand all around towns to build more warehouses to stuff with Chinese tat and barracke like homes due almost entirely to the effects of unlimited immigration, both legal and not.
You can’t move for bloody road works, i spend my days scouring google traffic ducking and diving around the worse hold ups, thankfully no one in our admin bats an eyelid which routes you use as long as the job gets done.
Monday was a nightmare, then it eased as the week progressed.
Tomorrow Im on a 6th shift and praying for everything to go well, but my optimism isnt that great as Im heading from Sheffield, to Bolton, then down to Cribbs Causeway, and back to Sheffield. So I recon Im looking at a 10hr drive, and possibly a 15, so despite being on a 6th shift I`m packing the night out bag and let the office figure out how to get me back if it goes pear shaped.
peirre:
Monday was a nightmare, then it eased as the week progressed.
Tomorrow Im on a 6th shift and praying for everything to go well, but my optimism isnt that great as Im heading from Sheffield, to Bolton, then down to Cribbs Causeway, and back to Sheffield. So I recon Im looking at a 10hr drive, and possibly a 15, so despite being on a 6th shift I`m packing the night out bag and let the office figure out how to get me back if it goes pear shaped.
You’re off your rocker accepting that job on a 6th shift. Sheffield to Bolton and back to Sheffield is all they’d have got out of me.
Firstly there’s clearly loads of people driving without licences.
You can literally be stuck at traffic lights through two phases of red to green to red to green waiting for the above to work out how to make the thing pull away from rest and that’s just with an automatic on the level let alone a hill start with a manual.
That’s added to by deliberate phasing of multiple banks of lights that puts the set ahead to red as the set behind change to green.
Also another variation on the theme of closing down one side of a single cariageway for ‘road works’ that are not only not happening but aren’t even to do with the road but street furniture and embankments etc to the side of it.Then deliberately phasing the lights to red for longest on the side with the most traffic flow.Resulting in a half mile long queue on one side and two cars waiting on the other.
As for ‘motorways’ like the M25 now just over regulated roads to avoid with the sheep using sat navs to flood local roads off it as rat runs.Including trucks using 6 ft wide country lanes and deliberate arbitrary strategic road closures of same.
On that note it took me almost 3 hours to get from Leatherhead to Tunbridge Wells yesterday Around an hour of that stupidly trusting the Leatherhead by pass with more traffic trying to avoid the M25 everywhere between Dartford and the M40 in both directions, than wanting to use it, because of the usual numerous issues on it.With the surrounding roads and even 6 ft wide country lanes then grid locked
The fact is sat navs are causing havoc by obviously sending loads of traffic along any likely routes of avoidance at the same time including trucks along unsuitable ones, thereby making them even worse then the roads which are causing the havoc to start with.
Oh and also don’t ever remember holiday entitlement ever being enough to provide one or two weeks off every half term + the Summer hols.
Wierd zb.
I had the same thought earlier reference traffic levels. And also the same thought that maybe its just me becoming used to lockdown levels of vehicles.
Those were the days 
I think next week will be a more accurate reflection. Kids will be back at school so most people will be back to doing their normal routine whatever that might be as opposed all the leisure trips that are going on this week.
My hatred of wobbleboxes hasn’t subsided either btw and I still suspect that all caravan owners are ■■■ offenders.
I’ve done some ducking and detouring this week…and I don’t start till dinner,so morning rush don’t play a part in my day.
Six week hols should be fun…if we’re not back in lockdown.
DCPCFML:
You’re off your rocker accepting that job on a 6th shift. Sheffield to Bolton and back to Sheffield is all they’d have got out of me.
Yeah I didn’t specifically accept that run, I just put my name down for working Saturday, it’s only when one of the clerks text me advice notice of what I gotta do did I know what I will be doing,
but according to the planners it’s only >——< that far on a map.
In reality it’s s 6am start with 8:30am tip at Bolton, and 10:30am tip at Cribbs Causeway.
With around 1hr+ to tip at each site. If I manage to make Strensham of Gloucester Services for my break before getting to cribbs around 1pm I will be lucky. I’m expecting the infringements waiting for me next week to to be piled high.
On a plus note the the agency are paying the drivers a £50 bonus for working weekends because they can’t get anyone to volunteer to work weekend shifts, and now I know why
peirre:
On a plus note the the agency are paying the drivers a £50 bonus for working weekends because they can’t get anyone to volunteer to work weekend shifts, and now I know why
How much you getting for DHL on the agency down there on weekends? DHL up here are over £22/hr for Sundays. An extra £50 across both days would bump that up considerably if you’re already on that rate.
Took me 7 hours to get from Street in Somerset to Letchworth on Friday due to all the traffic 
I was supposed to go to Saffron Walden with the stuff but not a hole in hell as it would have impacted on today’s work , so dumped at 2xl in Letchworth and stayed there the night
Had a nice little run from Park Royal to Lidl’s in Exeter today then drove back to Fareham along the coast route , only took me 45 mins longer to get back than normal
DCPCFML:
peirre:
On a plus note the the agency are paying the drivers a £50 bonus for working weekends because they can’t get anyone to volunteer to work weekend shifts, and now I know why
How much you getting for DHL on the agency down there on weekends? DHL up here are over £22/hr for Sundays. An extra £50 across both days would bump that up considerably if you’re already on that rate.
Despite having spend a decade or more in the past working out of DHL Bawtry, I haven`t done any work for DHL for a couple of years. The rates I received back then where shockingly poor.
As for today, I made it to Bristol just after 1pm, and got back to the yard around 19:15
peirre:
DCPCFML:
peirre:
On a plus note the the agency are paying the drivers a £50 bonus for working weekends because they can’t get anyone to volunteer to work weekend shifts, and now I know why
How much you getting for DHL on the agency down there on weekends? DHL up here are over £22/hr for Sundays. An extra £50 across both days would bump that up considerably if you’re already on that rate.
Despite having spend a decade or more in the past working out of DHL Bawtry, I haven`t done any work for DHL for a couple of years. The rates I received back then where shockingly poor.
As for today, I made it to Bristol just after 1pm, and got back to the yard around 19:15
Sorry my mistake then. Thought I read a post from recently saying you drive for DHL. 
A Highways England lady said on tv the extreme amount of excessive traffic was caused by multiple break downs as cars were not used much in the lock down periods or taken off the road to save the insurance or if they did get used in the lock downs it was small journeys.
Now the cars are doing long journeys and may have skipped routine maintenance and upkeep so break down while stuck in queues .And drivers maybe out of practice with driving skills.
Even some hauliers SORN’ed their lorries over lock downs.
