... just 340 yards long charging motorists £2 a time to bypass closed section of main road
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...main-road.html
This is an interesting story... man builds a road in 3 days and charges £2 a time to save people the 10 mile detour around a bit of road the Council wont have fixed until at least the end of the year - between Bath and Bristol, so not exactly tiny hamlets.
The Council, of course, are complaining about it, but surely the question must be why didn't they do it? Of course building a permanent road entails all sorts of hassle, but this is clearly a temporary fix; you could impose a 10mph speed limit on it and drivers would still only be on it for about 65 seconds!
Clever guy, and it doesn't sound like profit is his only motive. Sounds like the council are being difficult because they are worried that a simple practical solution like this on an individuals private initiative makes them look like dicks !Originally Posted by Cirrus
Good luck everybody. Have a good one.
He was on Sky this morning,. He was saying that the council have "come round" and are erecting signs to advise of its existence. He is expecting to break-even if gets a 1000 cars a day.
Saving a 14 mile detour - on fuel alone financially worthwhile to take it and probably saves half an hour
I hope for his sake the repair to the existing road is delayed further and he starts making money!
Nice idea, i bet the local council can come up with 50 reasons to close it.
Would they be allowed to? Or would they scare privateers into closing it by lying about the extent of their powers (which is the sort of underhand thing that councils do)?
...but what do I know; I don't even like watches!
There are plenty of events - car boot sales and the like - in which people pay to drive on to a farmer's field... it just so happens that in this instance you drive off 10 or so miles closer to where you are going! Maybe if he sets up an stall or something in the middle and says he is selling ice-cream it would scupper the council ;)
Last edited by Cirrus; 4th August 2014 at 12:20.
I don't know about this sort of thing but the council claim that:
So I guess my question would be a) do roads have to meet Safety standards (I'd guess so?) and do they need b) insurance (I'd guess so?) and are these things in place?"The council has no details to confirm the toll road design meets safety standards and no evidence that insurances are in place for any member of the public who uses the private toll road."
Its a temporary road on private land so it doesn't need to meet highway standards. He has insurance. I cant see a single reason for it's closure.
Private toll road eh, so no speed restrictions, heaven. I'll just get the keys to the Veyron;)
I have used a number of Unadopted roads (think that is correct term) and they were heinous so safety is probably not an issue.
Let's hope public opinion is taken into account when the retrospective planning is heard.
I am sure it would be very easy to find a reason to close it but let's also hope that common sense plays it's part in this.
Good luck to the guy. I hope he makes money too.
An interesting thread. I live a couple of miles from the closed road, previously used it regularly, and have walked it since the closure (there is a short diversion for walkers and cyclists). The closure is due to a significant land slip that occurred late last year. The Council's rationale for their apparent slow speed of action is that the slip first needed to stop, then be investigated, and then a solution agreed and implemented. This has taken some months. Whether this is a valid reason I don't know, but it seems reasonable.
The toll road is interesting. It is higher up the hill than the closed road. Clearly it saves locals significant time and money. I assume there is no potential for impact on the hills geology, or to exacerbate the previous instability, and that the individuals involved in opening the toll road have taken expert advice on this.
So I guess my question would be a) do roads have to meet Safety standards (I'd guess so?) and do they need b) insurance (I'd guess so?) and are these things in place?[/QUOTE]
I'm sure public roads have to meet a certain standard but private roads won't so I'm guessing no to both of the above. There's hundreds of miles of private roads here in Yorkshire leading to farms, some well maintained, others only suitable for tractors. However visitors, posties and many others use these roads to access farms so this private road must fall in to the same category.
Some private car parks are nothing more than fields, or rubble strewn wastelands and they seem to operate OK without council intervention, elf and safety and insurance.
If the public sector was not such an unorganised joke, such opportunities would not exist!! - They will undoubtably close it down to save themselves the embarrassment!!
What a guy! Well impressed.
Cheap road, must have much sub base to it.
A little bit of innovation!
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote