Peter Mason, Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Strategic Highways has reiterated that the abuse of highways crews in Staffordshire ‘will not be tolerated’ as repairs to the network ramp up.

With the county council’s road repair season well under way, crews have seen a rise in incidents, ranging from drivers ignoring ‘road closed’ signs, to carrying out dangerous manoeuvres and mounting pavements to squeeze past roadworks.

In the most recent incident, a member of road crew fell after being clipped by a car and was subsequently threatened by the driver after the vehicle drove through closure barriers.

Since the beginning of the year, Staffordshire County Council highway contractor Amey has recorded 76 incidents of vehicles flouting restrictions and abuse of roadworkers.

Last year, a scheme in Tamworth had to be paused for several days after crews experienced aggressive and threatening behaviour by a member of the public.

To tackle the increasing risk of abuse and reckless behaviour, highway workers have begun to wear bodycams and vehicles are fitted with dashcams to record any incidents. The recordings are then sent to the police for further investigation.

Mr Mason (pictured) said:

“While we understand roadworks can be frustrating for motorists there is no excuse for abuse or threatening behaviour. We have had incidents of abuse which not only threatened the safety of staff, but also caused unnecessary delays to schemes.

“This will not be tolerated and we want to make it clear that incidents will be reported to the police, and we will support the police, Amey and all individuals affected to ensure action is taken against offenders.

“No-one deserves to be abused at work. The safety of our road crews always comes first.”

(Pictures: Staffordshire County Council)