Strike puts brakes on Christmas as smart motorways face 60mph limit

With highways and train workers set to walk out extra-busy roads could lack control room operators

MOTORISTS driving to visit their loved ones this Christmas could face 60mph speed limits because National Highways staff are planning to strike.

Staff responsible for monitoring smart motorways could walk out at the same time as railway workers, meaning the roads will be extra busy.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents control room operators last week announced a month of strikes after 100,000 civil servants voted for industrial action.

Insiders said the quango may set 60mph speed limits on smart motorways if they expect big staffing gaps, which could lead to journey delays.

Last night the families of those killed on smart motorways and MPs called on roads chiefs to temporarily reinstate the hard shoulder instead, to prevent the roads’ dangers being “magnified” by the strike action. The union said it would begin action in mid-December, with some staff striking for an entire month.

There could also be gridlock at Port of Dover checkpoints because Border Force staff are also represented by PCS.

A source at National Highways said: “Even non-union control centre staff support strike action. The consensus was it would be poor form to come in if colleagues were striking.”

Roads bosses are struggling with chronic staff shortages which MPs claim are “putting lives at risk”. The arms-length Government body has also been plagued by tech failures.

All-lane-running has come under scrutiny following fatal collisions.

National Highways control room operators find accidents on CCTV, dispatch traffic officers, and set lane closures and speed limits. Smart motorways use radar to alert staff to stopped cars within 20 seconds.

Greg Smith, on the Transport Select Committee, said: “If staff walk out lives will be put at risk, especially at a time when there’ll be more cars on the road because rail workers are on strike.”

“I see no alternative than to reinstate the hard shoulder if strike action takes place. Without a human to respond to the tech, the whole system falls apart.”

Claire Mercer, whose husband Jason was killed, said: “Drivers are already in horrendous danger on these roads, but with staff walking out this will be magnified to a potentially catastrophic level.

“Surely by law National Highways has to turn the hard shoulder back on to prevent a cocktail of chaos.” Civil servants across 126 departments voted to strike for a 10 per cent payrise, pensions

‘Surely by law National Highways has to turn the hard shoulder back on to prevent a cocktail of chaos’

and job security. The Government says their demands would cost £2.4billion.

The source said “more and more jobs are being piled on control room staff ” because of an exodus of workers. “It’s horrendous how we are being treated,” he said.

While the Government has paused the roll-out of new all-lane-running motorways over safety fears, there are still hundreds of miles of them.

Andrew Page-Dove, operational control director at National Highways, said: “We will put well-rehearsed resilience plans in place to ensure the continued safe operation of our network. These can include managing signs and signals from other regional operations centres and lifting some roadworks.”

He added: “Millions rely on our roads and there is a possibility that they may be busier than usual on strike days so we’d urge drivers to take extra care.”