Tragedy!

This morning was a great ride in. The last two weeks traffic and weather seems to have got worse and wore, but this morning it was bright, but no sun in the eyes, it had been raining, but the roads were dry, the sun had not been up long, but visibility was great! Having whizzed in quicker than most mornings of late, I was looking forward to similar ride home.

Jackie and I left work at 5pm. We planned to get home, and then set out on public transport for an evening of wining and dining.

Before leaving I checked the TFL website for signs of hold ups on our route. Warnings and congestion are well displayed on their new graphic website. It has been in testing for months and have used it almost every day. However, for some reason, today they and the Police let themselves down badly!

On Tuesday in a horrific accident a crane fell near Battersea Dog's Home killing two people, the crane operator, and a man who was cleaning his car.

I arrived on that stretch of the road about 30 minutes after it happened and had a short hold up due to fire engines, ambulances and police vehicles blocking so much of the road the buses could not get past. Every evening since I have passed the wreck of the crane and it has not been pleasant seeing it silhouetted against the skyline.

Today, the crane was lifted. I confesses I was shocked to read that the man who was cleaning his car has been lying under the wreckage for three and a half days!

I knew the wreckage was being lifted today, and was glad for that, but the TFL website made no mention of the resulting traffic chaos they had planned for us.

On leaving the office Jackie and I had a good run from work to Vauxhall Cross, but once under the bridge it was obvious the traffic was at a standstill. The last time I saw anything like this was after the failed bombings in July last year when the Oval area was closed off and traffic crossing Vauxhall Bridge had nowhere to go. There were lots of cars, and they were going nowhere! I had lost Jackie as we turned left past Metropolis Motorcycles and as I was forced to go to the left round the gyratory system to get through I pulled over in the only safe space just before the turn off to Stockwell as I was going to suggest we headed that way instead. Unfortunately, the Stig did not see me, went straight past and back under the rail line towards Battersea. By this time I had a good idea why there was chaos, even if TFL didn't seem to know!

I was worried because if the road was closed at Battersea she probably would not know a suitable alternative route as she has been commuting only a few months and only knows one way to, and one way from work.

I had to proceed down the road to Stockwell a short way before I could turn across the central barrier. Then I had to fight my way through the traffic, including an altercation with a Royal Mail van driver who went through a red light so he could sit on a box junction! Eventually I got heading towards Battersea.

Back on the north side of the rail line there was a sign saying " Follow diversion" but there was no sign of what that diversion was or why. Further on there was also a sign saying "Battersea Bridge Road Closed" - now the road concerned is called Battersea Bridge Road - but it is also called Parry Street, Nine Elms Lane and York Road so unless you know the area, you might not understand that you were heading nowhere! There were loads of traffic wardens all standing on traffic islands at this complex junction, and all doing absolutely nothing to direct traffic! In all the information was rubbish!

I headed towards the area where the crane was because I guessed that the Stig would have done so and would probably find herself stranded with no clear directions as to ow to get home. I headed down the dual carriageway towards New Covent Garden and was soon pleased to see the Stig heading the other way, obviously having turned round when she found she could not get home that way. She saw me and I was able to cross the barrier at a gap and catch up with her before she got back to Vauxhall Cross.

Back at Vauxhall Cross things wre really bad with lots of stationary vehicles. I considered the options and decided to take the line of least resistance and head over Vauxhall Bridge despite long queues to get over, but we filtered our best! We then turned left and had to fight with loads of traffic going west on the north side of the river. Eventually we got to Albert Bridge, turned back across it and found very little traffic going that way. Once back in Battersea there was less traffic than I have ever seen, including on very quiet Sunday afternoons, going towards Wandsworth. Presumably it was still all jammed up back at Vauxhall!

In the end we got home after about 100 minutes, on a journey that normally takes about 45. We were exhausted. It was one of only three trips in three years of commuting that took more than an hour. It ruined our evening. Our plans to go out and eat were abandoned as we found ourselves wanting to just put our feet up, crack open the wine and order a pizza.

The collapsing crane and the deaths is a terrible tragedy, and it is horrific that someone had to lie there for days before their body could be recovered. It is even more horrific that his family knew that outside their home his body was still lying there. But damn you TFL! What excuse is there? This happened days ago so why was it that today there was poor information, no proper signs for the diversion and why was there absolute chaos this evening?