We were doing a dash across France on Friday night & were unfortunate enough to come across a bad accident north of Paris in the very early hours just after it had happened. An arctic had managed to turn over & was at 90 degrees to the motoway, rear of the trailer on the central concrete barrier & the cab on the grass verge so the motorway totally blocked & a poor van driver had ploughed into the truck, thankfully for him the truck was roof towards us so he hit the soft part of the trailer, lots of blood but aparently he would be Ok.

So we are sitting about 8 rows back from the smash, arctic on its side, its contents of parcels spilling out of the trailer & an injured driver to be attended to, thankfully some French knew good first aid so gave immediate care to him.

Now the Impressive bit. 2.5 hours later & the casualty was long gone, the lorry had been winched upright & then winched in stages until it was on the hard shoulder, the trailer had split during winching so the total load had been moved by hand onto the hard shoulder, the van removed, the remaining side of the trailer dragged off the road by hand & one lane opened so we were away, Im guessing a second lane would have been opened within another 10 minuites after the guys with brooms had swept it clear.

How long would it have taken the Highways Agency to sort that lot out ??

all day most likely , longer if it was Fat Acc

iirc... do the french not have some laws if you come accross an accident you are obligated to help or something like that?

Why not ask the resident "womble", "EMILY....................................!!??!!"

WOW.

The other day took 6 hours to shift a broken down lorry from the A605. 6 Fecking hours, 3 police cars, and 2 womblemobiles.

And dont even get me started on the shambles of the M10 and the A1/M25 (DHL lorry broke down A1 s/b) today!

iirc... do the french not have some laws if you come accross an accident you are obligated to help or something like that?

I believe that to be the case. You are required by law to act to your best ability as a "good samaritan".

I believe that to be the case. You are required by law to act to your best ability as a "good samaritan".

Unless you are paperatzi......................

That's a good effort, no doubt. Can we send the Wombles to France for training?! :rubchin:

Steve

Can we send the Wombles to France :rubchin:

Steve

Good idea

Good idea

Kent Police have officers in France nicking speeding motorists so co operation is possible

From another Forum :- over August bank holiday weekend

Kent Police in conjunction with the French Police did a speeding swoop on the Toll boths on the A26 Near Junc 3....they caught 28 english cars out of 600 total between the hours of 14:00 and 18:00 on the Sat and Sun..

Speed are between 145-174km/h

Also that a F355 was confiscated on the Boulogne road doing the A16 doing 174 in a 110 limit...

It was a "potential crime scene", so how could you move anything other than an injured person before SOCO had spent 3 days fingertip searching 2 miles of carriageway?

I have dropped an e-mail to the highways agency asking why it takes so much longer in the UK. Im guessing I will get the pre prepaired political response but will let you know

i was told years ago that in the middle east if there is an accident a rope is attached to the offending vehicle and dragged to the side of the road straight away. dont know if basil can confirm that?

...

Also that a F355 was confiscated on the Boulogne road doing the A16 doing 174 in a 110 limit...

Yeah, I could have done better than 174 kph in me Furby. The Ferrari driver clearly wasn't trying hard enough and didn't deserve the car.

Where's Irin?

I have dropped an e-mail to the highways agency asking why it takes so much longer in the UK. Im guessing I will get the pre prepaired political response but will let you know

Well someone actually called me, its all to do with what they are & are not allowed to do within UK law, looks like the nanny states at fault again.

Bolox.

If the French can do it quickly, and still have time left in the day to strike over something, then there's no reason the Wombles need 6 hours and 18miles of cones (covering 2 out of the 3 for a tyre change on the hard shoulder, obviously) cant work quicker.