Wick taxi boss sees red over faulty traffic lights after 20-minute wait at 2am
A taxi firm boss was at his wit’s end after a 20-minute wait for temporary traffic lights to change at 2am on a quiet weekday in Wick town centre.
James Miller from Miller’s Taxis in Wick said that there was no need to put a four-way traffic system at the junction of Station Road, Cliff Road, River Street and Bridge Street.
“All they had to do was close the bottom of Station Road for access at the other end so that the police and folk using the train station could have access,” said Mr Miller on Tuesday afternoon.
“On Monday, I waited there at the back of 6pm for around 15 to 20 minutes. Then I came down Station Road at the back of 2am and there was not a soul on the go there and waited over 20 minutes with the lights not changing [from red]. The whole town’s in a rumpus about it.”
He says that other taxi drivers and local motorists are complaining about the matter and the tailbacks along some of the roads are blocking access to side roads. “I went around the harbour last night and went down Sinclair Terrace but couldn’t get across the road to get to the hospital because of the traffic blocking the road.”
Mr Miller thought the work was being carried out as part of an initiative to provide more broadband connections in Caithness. Streets in Halkirk are being dug up for the introduction of Highland Broadband cabling with motorists having to wait for unimpeded access.
However, when Highland Broadband was contacted it said that it had no work being carried out at that location at present.
Highland Council was then contacted and its spokesperson said: “As Contraflow Ltd look to be the lighting contractor, probably its best to contact them. Normally they have a contact number if the lights don’t appear to be operating in sync.”
On Station Road on Tuesday afternoon, workers from Contraflow Ltd Traffic Management were in the process of moving the lights from Station Road to the bottom of Cliff Road.
One of them said that the team had come from Forres and were just involved in setting up the lights, cones and temporary barriers at the site and believed it was connected to work being carried out by a wind farm company.
The only visible work that seemed to have been carried out in the area was a small section of pavement dug up along Station Road.
When asked about the problem with the lights not working properly another said that they just set up the equipment and that any fault lay with another company that supplied the lights. They also said that a driver jumping the lights could “throw them out of sync and cause delays”.
Mr Miller added: “I don’t know who’s doing it but it’s a damn disgrace. The state of the town with the potholes is bad enough. They strengthened that path [on Station Road] and now they’ve dug it all up.”
He said that “a bairn of two would have more sense to close the road and keep everything going”. He said that the tailbacks could cause problems for emergency access to Caithness General Hospital at the top of Cliff Road and with police using their base at Station Road.
“I wouldn’t skip the lights myself but someone might be tempted to if they’re sitting there for 15 or 20 minutes and that could cause an accident.
“When I was there, waiting for 20 minutes, I could see along the bridge and the river and not a soul went past. I just had to wait and wait and wait.”
Contraflow Ltd was contacted but failed to provide any further information on the issue.
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