Ok so last night at around 0030 I was returning from Bristol to Gatwick, going round the M25 and right beside the marker post “M25 B 57.3” there was a flipping huge deer trying to make an escape over the fence to the safety of the woods, rather than its current habitat of the M25 hard shoulder.
Poor thing looked scared witless and it had a tiny Herr Flick style limp (without the trench coat and gestapo-issued stick) but quite clearly it wasn’t going to make it back off the M25 without help, that’s if it didn’t try and bolt it the other way into the endless pack of double decker pallet trunk pilots.
Thinking “This is it son, this is your time to shine, be a hero” I dialled the highways agency (hands free on the cab phone, of course) and was ready to set loose a whole host of bright eyed and bushy tailed HATO’s as they raced to their big moment of action.
What actually happened is for the next 27 minutes, until I rolled into the depot and had to give up, I was kept on hold hearing over and over again “All our advisors are currently assisting other customers, please stay on the line”
REALLY?! at the point between half past midnight and 1am the HA is so inundated with calls it can’t get someone on the line to talk to me? or was the bloke behind the desk just whacking off to babe station , or asleep?
So I’d like to apologise to whoever, probably, had to scrape the deer off their bumper last night, but I did all I could!
Thats a poor show by the HATO I actally saved there number in my phone the other day for incidents like that, (afetr i saw someone on the hard shoulder laying down under the offside of there van with there feet near the white line)
Isnt there a police non emergancy number 122 maby??
That is very poor, but nothing to do with HATO, as the ‘call centre’ is a separate part of the HA. Call back today and complain is what I would do as this level of service is unacceptable. I would have also called 999.
should of dialed 999, 57.3 is that between 9 and 8 obviously going towards dartford
the police would of handed it over to the traffic @ the RCC at Godstone who have police and HA in same building they would of sent a unit from coldharbour or dartford … and a pol unit would of attended that on a i grade.
personally i would of stopped at a SOS box that goes straight through to Godstone RCC and they would of called a Sierra Echo unit to incident
I thought the HA were there with their own little phone number to take pressure off the police for things like that?
With hindsight perhaps yes I should have called 999 but it’s a shame the proper authority couldn’t deal with it in the time it took me to get from there (J9 I think it was) down the 23, to Gatwick, queue to get in the depot, on a bay and clock out.
Scarab:
I thought the HA were there with their own little phone number to take pressure off the police for things like that?
With hindsight perhaps yes I should have called 999 but it’s a shame the proper authority couldn’t deal with it in the time it took me to get from there (J9 I think it was) down the 23, to Gatwick, queue to get in the depot, on a bay and clock out.
I think in that instance a 999 would of bee justified, as it was a possible life threatening incident. someone will have a nice bit of deer for roast this sunday!!
The quickest response would have been by using the SOS box.
Signals would have been set straight away (in the right place!) and a HATO deployed to it.
Going through the police, depending on the callers & the police operators knowledge of the motorway, can often finish up with incorrect locations passed to patrols. By using the SOS box we know exactly where you are, and would ask the correct questions to establish where in relation to the SOS box the problem is (I use problem, as it could be anything that’s being reported, obviously a deer in this case)
It’s unfortunate that HAIL kept you waiting, I’ve not heard of that before, I would either call them again and complain, or e-mail the HA.
Thanks all the same for caring enough to make the effort, I can only apologise that HAIL let you down.
A couple of weeks ago between Corby and Stamford on the A43 a driver in what looked like a Peugeot 307 had hit a full size deer just as I was coming up to him doing about 50mph in a 7.5t luckily he had just put his hazzards on , when I pulled up behind him the deer was trashed on the side of the road and his car looked to be a total right off . If you know the road its unlit uphill and down dale and full of bends , I bet the driver of the car wondered what the hell he had hit.
Its unbeliveable the damage they can cause in a split second.
Slightly OT, but over the years I have reported many instances to the police, varying from accidents to potential jumpers on bridges, every time I tell them my road number, direction and approximate position followed by the road side marker post number, every time I have mentioned the marker post the dorris on the other end of the phone has been like ■■? What do you mean ■■? Surely you cannot get any more precise than marker post number ■■? Do the police call centre staff and relevant peoples not use this valuable info or are the posts merely for decoration or the AA or something ?
With new staff coming into Police control ‘call centres’, a lot do not know about motorways and marker posts. The AA have only just found out what they are!!
i tried to report a car in the central reservation of th a1m,no answer on the roadside phone so dialed 999,whats the point of roadside phones if no one answers them?
Even the 999 operators have there moments
I phoned last year to report a “car parked” in the 3rd lane at 4am pitch black with no lights or hazards on .
Was told if its parked it’s ok and this was a emergency number !!!
Took a second attempt to explain it was in the 3rd lane and in pitch black , the only Reason that it prob hadn’t caused a accident was that it was mostly Hgv traffic at that time in lane 1&2 only !
I actally saved there number in my phone the other day for incidents like that, (afetr i saw someone on the hard shoulder laying down under the offside of there van with there feet near the white line)
