THE boss of Lymm Truckwash has blamed bad weather and council planners for the traffic jams impacting the A50 at one of the busiest times of the year for the haulage industry.
Local residents and motorists have been complaining about lengthy queues of HGVs attempting to access Lymm Truckwash near the Poplars Service Station.
Local Cllr Graham Gowland commented: “I’m regularly contacted by locals who are stuck in traffic jams caused by lorries queuing for the new truckwash. They block the roundabouts and often end up making it impossible to pass. We log the issue with the police and council, who do attend to do what they can, but we can’t have impacts like this from a business. I’m sure highways will have issues with any further development of this site.”
But Laura Cardwell, Managing Director of Lymm Truckwash, responded: “We are extremely aware that the numbers of trucks coming through Lymm Truckwash are higher than usual and we are doing our absolute best to get through the demand as quickly and safely as possible.
“The recent freezing temperatures meant that we were not able to open last week and are consequently working our way through the backlog of trucks that are required by law to be kept clean from a safety and visibility perspective. Added to this, the salt and grit spread on the roads means they are very dirty and take a couple of minutes longer per truck to wash. Frost and snow can corrode if not removed and therefore it is vital to get the salt off the trucks which are very valuable assets.
“Safety is always at the forefront of our minds. We submitted a planning application last year to help double our on-site queuing and despite support from Highways England and the police, this was unfortunately refused by local residents, the Parish Council and Warrington Council. We have also tried to engage several times with our neighbours, the fire service, but they do not respond.
“Many roads at this time of the year are busy – Cheshire Oaks queues onto the M53 and the Trafford Centre the M62 – the trucks waiting to be washed at the truckwash have the public’s Christmas and day to day goods on.
“Truck drivers are the workforce behind all our consumer and company goods, and more public support needs to be shown to this industry. Without them there is no Christmas Day.”
