Pavilionaire
Well-known member
- Jul 7, 2003
- 31,274
Yesterday i was driving the family back from the Vendee. As the French so often do, they route a main 'motorway' through, rather than round town so we'd already lost an hour at Angers and getting near Rouen town centre.
The bridge over the river we needed in Rouen has been shut for some months due to a tanker fire and it was a holiday weekend, so traffic was heavy but moving. However, the traffic planners thought it would be a good idea to divert then 'kettle' all those returning to the channel ports in a 10 mile stretch of 'peage' toll road about 10 miles north of Rouen.
The only indication of the impending doom on the A29 was one notice that described the road as "tres difficile". We took this to mean a bit slow, or a lane closed. However, having taken a ticket and got onto the road within 100 yards we were confronted with a solid traffic jam for 10 miles. Unbelievably, it had been caused by the 'peage' itself - no accidents, no cones, just the sheer act of stopping the traffic to get on and having insufficient barrier operators to get people off.
No information, no exits. 10 miles. 2 hours, 1 missed ferry and €5 euros for the privilege. The excuse - "Deviation and holiday'. Hundreds of families delayed, massive travel chaos. I then like many had to drive the last 80-odd miles like the wind to get to Calais. We later found out this traffic jam had been reported as early as 10.55 that morning.
We then queued for 1 and a half hours to board the last MyFerry out of Calais a mere 15 mins before scheduled departure, squeezing out genuine passengers for the 21.30 further back in the queue.
Luckily kids were as good as gold, but paying €100+ on the peage for the equivalent of driving to Scotland and back is shit, especially with so many delays.
Returning to the UK we were nitified that 2 junctions of the M25 were shut some 85 miles before that point. Proper information in a timely fashion.
Our roads are brilliant by comparison and God help us if we introduce toll roads on a widespread scale. I'll be giving France a miss for a few years after yesterday.
The bridge over the river we needed in Rouen has been shut for some months due to a tanker fire and it was a holiday weekend, so traffic was heavy but moving. However, the traffic planners thought it would be a good idea to divert then 'kettle' all those returning to the channel ports in a 10 mile stretch of 'peage' toll road about 10 miles north of Rouen.
The only indication of the impending doom on the A29 was one notice that described the road as "tres difficile". We took this to mean a bit slow, or a lane closed. However, having taken a ticket and got onto the road within 100 yards we were confronted with a solid traffic jam for 10 miles. Unbelievably, it had been caused by the 'peage' itself - no accidents, no cones, just the sheer act of stopping the traffic to get on and having insufficient barrier operators to get people off.
No information, no exits. 10 miles. 2 hours, 1 missed ferry and €5 euros for the privilege. The excuse - "Deviation and holiday'. Hundreds of families delayed, massive travel chaos. I then like many had to drive the last 80-odd miles like the wind to get to Calais. We later found out this traffic jam had been reported as early as 10.55 that morning.
We then queued for 1 and a half hours to board the last MyFerry out of Calais a mere 15 mins before scheduled departure, squeezing out genuine passengers for the 21.30 further back in the queue.
Luckily kids were as good as gold, but paying €100+ on the peage for the equivalent of driving to Scotland and back is shit, especially with so many delays.
Returning to the UK we were nitified that 2 junctions of the M25 were shut some 85 miles before that point. Proper information in a timely fashion.
Our roads are brilliant by comparison and God help us if we introduce toll roads on a widespread scale. I'll be giving France a miss for a few years after yesterday.
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