Category: travel

TIME: 19.24 hrs – LOCAL people are reporting that all the main routes out of Thame remain gridlocked, as traffic from the M40 tries to find alternatives routes following an overturned lorry  on the M40 just after midday.

Oxfordshire County Council Fire and Rescue Service were called to a report of an overturned lorry on the M40 near Lewknor on the southbound carriageway between junctions 7 and 6, at 1225 pm today, Thursday June 23, 2016.

Thames Valley Fire Control mobilised three fire engines from Wheatley, Thame and Slade fire stations, along with a specialist Heavy Rescue Unit from Kidlington and environmental protection unit from Didcot.

On arrival firefighters immediately assisted paramedics from South Central Ambulance Service to treat the driver of the lorry which had overturned and blocked lanes of the north and southbound carriageways. Firefighters then rapidly used salvage equipment to soak up / stop diesel and oil that had leaked from the lorry, entering watercourses. Initially the whole southbound carriageway was closed and two lanes of the northbound, whilst crews made the incident safe. Thames Valley Police and Highways England assisted with traffic management and providing further spill kits to soak up the diesel. The driver was taken to hospital for treatment by ambulance.

The hard shoulder was reopened and used to allow traffic flow on the south bound carriageway soon after arrival. Lane restrictions will remain until recovery of the lorry, crash barrier repairs and road surface cleaning takes place later today.

SOURCE: Press release

THAME Town Council is to spend up to £6,250 to keep the Vale Travel local bus service 120/121/123/124 running for a year, from July 20, 2016, when it would otherwise cease due to cuts in the county council’s subsidies to uneconomic routes.

This sum would mean that this vital life-line for people living at the Eastern end of Thame and some out-lying villages, would at least continue to get people to and from Thame on Tuesdays, market day.

If a bus company insists that it will only run the service for a minimum of two days (as Vale Travel has), this would require a subsidy of £15,000. The town council will seek contributions from other parish councils whose residents benefit from the service.

‘Urgent’

Cllr Mary Stiles, who with Thame’s Town Clerk, Graham Hunt, has been trying to work out with the bus company a feasible plan to keep the service going, has been given the brief to persue the efforts further with other bus companies.

Cllr Stiles told fellow town councillors at their meeting on Tuesday (June 21), “Disabled and elderly people who cannot afford taxis, rely on this service and would otherwise become isolated and lonely, which we know can affect mental health. This matter is now urgent as the service ends on July 20. Keeping the service going is also good for Thame’s continued vibrancy and contributes to the economy of our shops.

“We also need to take into consideration the new houses at the Eastern end of the town,” she added.

‘Thin end of the wedge’

Cllr Nigel Champken Woods feared that subsidising buses in this way could be ‘the thin edge of the wedge’. “This should be funded by Oxfordshire County Council. What are they going to dump on us next?  They cannot keep cut, cut, cutting and expect us to take up the slack. What are they spending their money on, since they keep cutting?”