Good news for North West drivers as Highways Agency recruits new traffic officers

THE Highways Agency are boosting there ability to keep traffic moving as it recruits more traffic officers to patrol motorways in the North West.

The Agency is offering the chance for the right people to tackle the rewarding and challenging job of being an on road traffic officer in its current recruitment campaign.

Clearing stray animals from the motorway, helping in the aftermath of a serious incident or managing traffic after huge spills of anything from diesel to ketchup, can all be in a day‘s work.

Highways Agency, head of on-road patrols John McTaggart said:- “This job is ideal for anyone who likes variety in their working day, likes helping others and wants to make a real difference. Good people skills and being able to work well as part of a team are key requirements, but successful candidates will also need to pass security and medical checks. Patrolling the region‘s motorways and key roads offers real rewards and job satisfaction and the chance to work closely with partners such as the Police and other emergency services."

The Traffic Officer Service has been in existence for nearly a decade and celebrates its tenth anniversary in the West Midlands next year. In this time it has changed and evolved into the service of today, where traffic officers are trained to a high standard in everything from safety to dealing with road users, traffic management and the use of technology.

The service was launched in the North West, 8 years ago this month, starting on Cheshire's Motorways back in September 2005. Now more than 1,450 traffic officers manage and patrol England‘s network of motorways and trunk roads. They operate from seven regional control centres and 33 outstations around the country, working around the clock 365 days a year.

Anyone who thinks they have the skills and necessary qualities to make a difference as a traffic officer can find out more about what the job entails from the Highway Agency's website.

TramForward welcomes tram link to Blackpool North Station

TRAMFORWARD has welcomes last week's news that funding has been provided to extend the Blackpool tramway from the Promenade at North Pier to Blackpool North railway station.  The allocation is for £16.4m towards the estimated £18.2m total cost of the project and forms part of almost £90m of funding allocated for improvements to the road and rail networks on the Fylde coast over the next decade.  The plans were announced by Transport for Lancashire, the newly formed body made up of representatives from Lancashire County Council, Blackpool Council, Blackburn with Darwen Council and the private sector led Lancashire Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which was set up to develop major transport schemes. This has come about as part of the Government's localism policy to delegate funding decisions to local bodies.  The scheme has been in Blackpool's plans for some time and, during the recent upgrade of the tram system, trackwork was installed to facilitate the extension. Andrew Braddock, Chairman of the Light Rail Transit Association, said:- "It is excellent news that the newly refurbished Blackpool tramway will now be able to link to the national rail system and provide better connections for local people and visitors. It is an early example that the delegation of funding powers to local transport bodies is working and one we hope to see repeated around the country."