It’s National Customer Service Week 2018!

This week is national customer service week and we’ll be focusing on a different element of our customer service every day on Twitter and Facebook – but if  you’re impatient you can see the whole lot here, now…

Our Customer Pledge

Our customer service is based on three core principles; whatever the job we always strive to keep you safe, get the job done, and keep you involved. This is all part of our customer pledge – find out a more on our website.

Reporting to us
Did you know you can report almost anything to us using Fix My Street? Fix My Street is quick, simple, and precise – every report is allocated to the right team quickly, 24/7, and generates a unique reference number so it can be tracked by anyone.  

Who you gonna call?

However, in any emergency it’s best to phone us, and not try to report online or via social media, or post (we really did get a letter about a fallen tree once!). We can be reached 24/7 in an emergency on either 01296 382416 or 01296 486630 (out of hours). Emergencies are things like flooded roads, fallen trees on roads or pavements, or serious and dangerous issues like sinkholes. If you’re not sure what we’re responsible for then check out our day-to-day maintenance page which details everything we take care of. 

Finding out about roadworks in your area

Did you know you can use an interactive map on our website to find out about road works and closures in Buckinghamshire (and beyond)? We’ve put together this 2 minute video guide to show you how to use the map, and its many hidden talents…

We also publish a press release every Friday saying where we will be doing resurfacing works across Buckinghamshire in the coming week. We also put it on our website, here.

Getting communities involved  
We work closely with elected county councillors in Buckinghamshire, as well as parishes, to find out local priorities and issues. We meet regularly via local area forums, working groups, conferences, as well as issuing briefings and information. This helps us shape our long term improvement programme every April.

TfB Stakeholder Conference 2018

TfB Stakeholder Conference 2018

The most important time of year for customer service: Winter!  

Our winter maintenance will be starting soon! To round off national customer service week we’re focusing on how TfB will be getting ready for winter. Every day during the winter we issue daily gritting updates, so drivers can know what to expect on the roads.  You can see the daily alerts on Twitter, Facebook, or on our winter maintenance page on the county council website. We have loads of winter web resources such as gritting maps where you can track our gritters, gritting route maps – we salt 44% of the roads in Buckinghamshire – and road safety advice. Read more on our winter maintenance page.

TfB to man Marlow Bridge during overnight A404 works this week

Highways England will be closing the A404 near Marlow to do white lining works overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday this week (18^th/19^th September). The closure will be between junction 9B and the Bisham Roundabout, northbound on Tuesday night and southbound on Wednesday night, from 10pm to 5am on both nights. There will be a signed diversion for HGVs, as well as increased warning signs of the 3T limit on the approach to Marlow Bridge, as well as a camera van on the bridge itself.

Transport for Buckinghamshire (TfB) will put gatemen on Marlow Bridge all night to deter overweight vehicles from using it as a diversion route. The gatemen will be wearing body cameras for their own safety.

Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member Mark Shaw commented: “While this is an overnight closure only, and we aren’t anticipating too many issues, we would rather be safe than sorry. There are a lot of works happening in and around Marlow at the moment, and there were well publicised problems with the bridge being misused a couple of weeks ago. We discussed the options with Highways England, and made the decision to take the protection of the bridge on ourselves.”

For further information, or to give feedback on the works and closures please contact Highways England.

Marlow Bridge misuse – Statement by TfB and Deputy Leader Mark Shaw

Last weekend, 1-2 September, Highways England (HE) closed a section of the A404 at Marlow to remove the Volvo footbridge for restoration works. Given the location of the closure, and its proximity to the Grade 1 listed Marlow Bridge, Transport for Buckinghamshire worked with HE and their contractor, Kier, to agree how the bridge would be protected from misuse by vehicles exceeding 3T. The agreement was for Kier to provide traffic management marshals to man both sides of the bridge and deter overweight vehicles.

The past weekend’s activity, backed up with photographs from the public and personal statements from local councillors, has shown that the agreed measures were not fully implemented. The bridge was open for all to use – including drivers who chose to ignore the official diversion and clear weight restriction signage on the approach to the bridge.

Highways England issued this brief statement to TfB on Tuesday this week: “We are aware of reports that that the traffic marshals may not have been in place at all times: we are speaking with the teams working over the weekend to establish the facts.”

TfB understands that HE’s investigation is ongoing, and as such is simply prioritising plans to ensure the same will not happen again when the Volvo footbridge is reinstated under another weekend closure of the A404 in October. TfB is acutely aware of the impact on the town of the enforced closure of the bridge following the Girteka incident in November 2016 and has no intention of allowing a repeat of that incident.

Mark Shaw, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Transportation, commented “The abuse of the bridge last weekend is extremely troubling, and frustrating because we thought it would be protected, as firmly agreed in the weeks before the closure. I urge Highways England to act quickly on their investigation now, because we – and the residents of Marlow – have been waiting since the weekend to understand why this happened. 

In the meantime we are all focused on how to best protect the bridge in October, a task which I would now rather was handled by Transport for Buckinghamshire. Whether that means marshalling the bridge ourselves, or closing it for the weekend – a decision we would not take lightly – remains to be seen. I’m appalled by what happened last weekend and want to assure Marlow residents and businesses that the last thing we want is a repeat of what happened in 2016.”

Further closures

Residents may also be aware that the A404, Bisham to junction 8/9, is shortly to be closed overnight for lining works (Tuesday 18th and 19th September).  It is TfB’s intention to close the bridge to all traffic whilst this A404 closure is in place.  As the works are scheduled for overnight only, the impact on the town will be minimal.