On my journeys home last Monday and Tuesday evenings, together with hundreds of others I suffered long delays at a set of traffic lights (Star Lane junction with A23 at Hooley, if you're interested). Changed phasing meant only two or three vehicles were getting through on each change.
Keen for this not to happen again, I decided to report it to the authorities just in case they were unaware. Unsure of whose responsibility the lights are, I started with Surrey County Council's highways advice number. Not surprisingly, given that this was the morning that an inch of snow had brought Surrey to a standstill, I got a recorded message.
The next step was a not particularly optimistic message submitted through Surrey CC's website. However, within an hour I had received an e-mail from a senior Surrey engineer satying that as it was a trunk road, the report had been forwarded to the Highways Agency's agent M25Sphere to deal with.
Then this morning came a message from Mouchel Parkman, part of the M25Sphere partnership, explaining the problem (a vehicle hit one of the poles), that a temporary repair had been carried out and that a permanent job was being done today. I have to admit to being pretty impressed but the crunch will come soon as I head home. If it takes all night, I'll let you know.