End of term traffic trouble as schools flock to Alton Towers
End of term traffic trouble as schools flock to Alton Towers
SAFETY measures put in place to manage hundreds of coaches leaving Alton Towers have come under fire from nearby villagers.
Some residents in Alton claim traffic lights and ‘stop/go’ signs operated by employees of the resort caused drivers to travel faster through the village at peak times.
Alton Parish Council voted in favour of the measures, while an online poll among villagers showed 50 people supported the move and 25 did not.
Alton Towers usually implements a traffic management system for the last two weeks of the summer term as hordes of students celebrate the end of the school year.
The system – which involved trained employees with stop/go signs and traffic lights – was only put into place on Wednesday, July 18 and Thursday 19 this year.
Concerns over the management of traffic were highlighted online with reports of resort staff receiving verbal abuse and residents raising fears the system was increasing speed through the village.
Alan Ratcliffe, 64, from Tean is a regular visitor to Alton where he was born and where his mum still lives. He said: “I was waiting in the queue at the stop and go sign and I noticed that once the sign turned to green the bus drivers were putting their foot down and were driving faster through the village because they knew there was nothing coming the other way.
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