DD has been stuck on the M5 for 6 hours

[GinForBreakfast]

I know there's been a serious incident but you can't leave people stuck on a motorway for 6 hours. That will include elderly people and tiny children. In other countries they manage to clear the roads far quicker.

No sign of anything moving and even once she does she's still 4 hours from home.

Thank you for the lovely warm wishes. Just arrived home safely, 12.5 hours after starting off. She was really well looked after by her friend and her friend's dad who was driving them.

No, and neither have I. My sympathies lie with the people involved in the incident causing the traffic jam. But OP has come on here specifically to slag off the emergency services doing their best to deal with it. They must see some unimaginable things in the line of duty - how about a bit of empathy for them.

That’s awful. I always keep a blanket and water etc in the car this time of year incase of breakdown etc, 6hrs is such a long time. At least she didn’t have young children with her, I feel for anyone in that situation. Sounds like a terrible incident, so as hard as it is, you have to be thankful it’s your DD texting to complain about the long wait (no judgement, i’d be doing the same) and not the police knocking on your door. Assume the road needed to be safe before cars could be move (once accident attended to). I have a 5hr journey home for Christmas on Sunday. Not looking forward to it.

What a voice of reason!
Thatcher made selling of council stock to tenants compulsory if requested, but disallowed the use of money from sale (greatly reduced from market price, and based on number of years as tenants), to reinvest in stock - encouraging private sector to replace role of council in providing housing.
So councils lost billions while social tenants ended up with fabulous properties in for example, Islington, for mere pence. Of course, those who chose to buy the counil house/flat not only were extremely selfish, but immediately very well off. For example, 3 floor Georgian house bought for approx £30k that was worth at least £300k at time.
As for investment in public services - well that was a joke well before 'all the immigrants'
The level if ignorance of events that led to our current state is astounding, yet people bleat on as if they somehow know why, reducing their idea of a 'solution' to one as simplistic as a child's.

Op I joined the M5 last night and turned off at Cirencester, we saw the traffic building up. I am so sorry that happened to your dd, she must be exhausted.
Prayers are with the families of those in the accident.

The weather conditions were horrendous. It was raining so hard, pitch black and some people were driving too fast. It felt frantic. So maybe she was safest being at a standstill.
I don’t know why people these days don’t slow for poor weather conditions. It is lethal. Not suggesting those in the accident were driving badly, but everyone is at risk unless everyone slows down.

Jeez - she wasnt the only person stuck in that traffic.

Yes awful that she was stuck for that long but you have to have some empathy and look at it from the other side. This would have been a police led incident where someone most likely died which is why the motorway was closed and accident investigation was happening. You can’t open a lane through this as that might disrupt evidence. Someone died remember…
They will have been turning people round from the back but if it’s a long junction this can take a long time.

Trust me the emergency services would have been trying their best. Yes inconvenient but she’s home safe and well now isn’t she unlike the people involved in the accident.

I don't think it's that the op wasn't seeing it from the other side. She was worried about her daughter which is allowed. Mn is ridiculous sometimes

I see the update it was a teenage girl attempting suicide. That’s even worse, god bless her.

So sad 😞

Glad she is home. But your previous posts suggested she was alone and driving….with her friend and friends father is a far less worrisome place to be, as if she became ill she is not alone. All of the people suggesting hotels were presuming she was driving, not just having to sit in a car!!

So she wasn't even driving Or alone.

I had a family member commit suicide. Their flat was cordoned off by police for quite a few days despite the fact the now orphaned children wanted to just be at home, there were no exceptions. I think it's if you haven't died from natural causes they must collect the evidence incase they need it one day, or perhaps there is in inquiry into the death and they have to prove there's no foul play. They can't just let a child kill themselves and life carry on without checking there wasn't anything else contributing.

Major omission, you did give the impression that she was a lone female stuck in traffic. Maybe that proves my point earlier that you didn’t think about anyone else.

Just read the thread and had some sympathy until this update. She was with a friend and her dad... Changes things.

You're right OP, most other countries do a better job, but most people here don't know any different so think it's fine.

Never let the full story get in the way of chuntering narrative, eh? 😂

The abandoned cars will prevent the rest of the cars from moving. Can you not understand that? They will block the way for the rest.

And if course the next exit may be ten miles away. Where will you walk to?

When the steel central barriers were replaced by concrete, I thought there should have been access gates every mile, so when there is a major incident the police and highway authorities could set up a contraflow on the unaffected carriageway to at least ease the congestion and let people off the motorway.

@Twototwo15 said nothing about foreigners. Talking about population density in relation to the physical size of a country is not xenophobic and it really is ridiculous to suggest it is. If they had commented on the make up of that population then yes, it certainly would be xenophobic, but they did not. The smaller population of France in relation to its land mass has been noted as a geographical / demographic fact by many sources, governmental, media, scientific, over a long period of time. If it is xenophobic to do so then there is an awful lot of work to be started to get them to remove this data!

Don’t want to come across as a “saint” but I do think people need to be more organised. I certainly never used to be, the only practical contents of my car consisted of an ice scraper and a phone charger. Never understood the need for an “emergency kit”.

If you’re on critical medication, you should always have at least a 1-day supply on your person if possible.
I always have a couple of snacks and a bottle of water in my glovebox, because even though my commute is only one junction to the next; I’ve been caught in hours-long traffic jams and learnt my lesson the hard way.

Exactly, totally different as a passenger!
What about the dad that now, presumably, has to drive back to his home as well?

Clearing the accident is relatively easy but they seem to spend an awful long time on "accident investigation"

But in Europe it's normal and part of driving theory test to always have a sleeping bag and water in your car. If you're unprepared, that's your problem

This is why I now travel with a large plastic box containing bottles of water (changed every month), waterproof and warm clothing, umbrella, thermal vest and leggings, hat, gloves, compact sleeping bag, power pack (checked every month), a pee-pot with lid, loo paper, wet wipes, head torch, plastic rubbish bags, £50 hidden in the pages of a book and a couple of doses of the drugs I have to take daily. Five hours trapped on the M6 a few years ago taught me to be prepared.