THURROCK Council has acted in the wake of a crash outside Linford this morning (Monday, 1 March) and banned traffic from queuing on one side of Buckingham Hill Road.

Thurrock Nub News reported this morning on the crash and problems in recent days with traffic back up around the entry to the tip.

The crash and subsequent reported highlighted the expressed concerns of local ward councillors Fraser Massey and Sue Sammons that the management of the tip traffic was problematic and was likely to result in an accident.

Once that prophecy has been fulfilled – thankfully without injury – Thurrock Council appears to have acted and this evening has issued an emergency notice.

It reads:

• The Borough council of Thurrock is satisfied that it is necessary to restrict of prohibit traffic on Buckingham Hill Road, Linford, without delay because of the danger to the public or serious damage to the road.

• The Council, in exercise of its power under Section 14 (2) of the Road Traffic Regulation act 1984 and all other enabling powers has therefore made the following notice

Prohibit any vehicle travelling southbound on Buckingham Hill Road from turning right into the Household Waste and Recycling centre

• The purpose of the notice is reasons of safety and to prevent congestion backing up in both directions.

• The notice will come into force immediately at 08.00 hours on Tuesday, 2 March 2021 and will be valid for 21 days. It will apply only on those days and during those times when indicated on site by the presence of the appropriate traffic signs in accordance with the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016.

Concern has already been expressed that all the action will do is lead to longer northbound queues and the danger of traffic heading south past the tip attempting to make U-turns on a narrow and very busy road.

The ward councillors have reiterated their belief that the best solution to what appears to be a problem caused by the lack of household garden waste collections (which will end next week) would be to have staff members marshalling traffic around the site and implementing stop and go traffic signs.