A55 highway patrols banned... from the A55

POLICE are having to come to the aid of broken down vehicles on a stretch of the A55 because highway patrols are not allowed on it.

The expressway from Llanfairpwll to Holyhead was funded under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme, and a legal loophole means government traffic officers must leave breakdowns to the police.

North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones said the situation results in scant resources not being used as effectively as they should be, while Anglesey AM Rhun ap Iorwerth has also voiced concerns.

Mr ap Iorwerth told the Senedd yesterday: “Traffic officers in North Wales patrol the A55 until Llanfairpwll. Of course, the A55 doesn’t stop at Llanfairpwll – it continues all the way across Anglesey to Holyhead.

“This, according to police officers, is causing them problems, because it ties up resources in dealing with road accidents and so on, which doesn’t happen in other parts of North Wales.”

He called on the Government to “look again at the current strategy” in order to ensure “the A55 in its entirety benefits from the work of these traffic officers”.

Apart from the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Strait, highway patrols do not monitor the A55 on Anglesey.

Leader of the Senedd Jane Hutt, filling in for First Minister Carwyn Jones, said: “The Welsh Government traffic officer service, as the member will be aware, was originally devised to cover those busier sections of the Welsh trunk road network.

“We actually inherited this PFI contract... we need to look carefully at the impact in terms of covering those areas.”

The PFI saw a company build and maintain the stretch of road for the government, with the eventual cost expected to run to £459m when it is finally paid off in 2030.

Commissioner Jones added: “Traffic Wales should cover all the trunk roads in North Wales and I have written to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Ken Skates, to suggest this.

“Having police vehicles to protect broken down vehicles is not an efficient use of police resources and it should cease.”