Drivers on busy Hereford road get the bird (From Ledbury Reporter)

Drivers on busy Hereford road get the bird

8:00am Thursday 7th March 2013 in News

A SWAN caused delays for motorists while trying to cross one of Hereford’s busiest roads.

The bird was caught on camera by Carey McKeown as it made its away across Greyfriars Bridge last Friday morning.

“A few cars had to slow down on our side of the road, but traffic was worse on the other lanes because they had to wait for the swan to get onto the central reservation and cross,” she said.

The same stretch of road suffered from the loss of its traffic lights three days later – although motorists claimed the fault improved journey times.

Ann Marie Probert said it took her half the time to drop her daughter off at Broadlands School from Holme Lacy Road when the lights on the Asda roundabout failed.

And Heather James added that traffic moved better than ever on Belmont Road on Monday morning.

When the lights returned, motorists claimed they were faced with the normal congestion.

Herefordshire paralympic swimmer Nyree Kindred used Twitter on Tuesday morning to say: “Belmont traffic. Grrr say no more.”

The Hereford Times reported in November that a campaign had begun to have the lights permanently switched off to help the traffic flow.

Colin James, who started the protest, recorded the traffic flow on Monday and says his figures prove that congestion was greatly reduced.

Councillor Graham Powell, Herefordshire Council’s cabinet member for infrastructure, has said that he has been in talks with the Highways Agency to see if the timing of the lights could be reviewed after the issue was brought to his attention.