I don’t want the £50k job, the traffic is just too bad. . .

PEOPLE ‘TURNING DOWN HIGHLY-PAID POSTS BECAUSE THEY CAN’T FACE THE CITY CENTRE COMMUTE’

CONGESTION in Manchester is now so bad that people are ‘turning down £50,000 jobs’ in the city centre to avoid the commute.

The M.E.N has run a number of stories on the seemingly never-ending cycle of city centre roadworks and their toll on happiness, health and even the football after the United team arrived late at two Old Trafford matches due to traffic.

Exacerbated by the ongoing Regent Road project, which is aimed at reducing congestion in the long-term, the impact on the economy is also a major concern, with gridlock thought to cost £169m a year.

Such is the concern that the chambers of commerce in Greater Manchester, Bristol and London have written to the Treasury ahead of the budget warning they are ‘dragging their feet’ in tackling congestion, to the detriment of the economy.

Tony Sloan, 60, who runs a legal recruitment firm based in Manchester, now works from home to avoid commuting into the city centre.

And he says his clients are turning down well-paid jobs to avoid the rat run. Tony reckons up to five clients a week refuse jobs paying around the £50,000 mark, citing the commute as the reason.

He added: “I was speaking to a solicitor from south Manchester about a £50,000 commercial job in Manchester. He asked where it was, I said the city centre, and he instantly said he wasn’t interested.

“He said he refused to get involved in the debacle of getting in and out of Manchester city centre on a daily basis.

“I’ve been in recruitment for 30 years and I’ve seen the traffic situation get worse and worse. As a result there are more people using trains and trams but they are struggling to cope too.”

Tony is not alone. Peter Davies, 49, lives in Bolton after moving away from Manchester to avoid the traffic.

The dad-of-four, an engineer, told the M.E.N: “One of the main reason we moved was traffic. I couldn’t cope. I was going to work and it was taking me an hour-and-a-half to get home to Sale Moor every night.

“My partner still works in Manchester and it’s taking her over an hour and a half to get home every night.

“Why do so many roads have roadworks at the same time?”

A spokesman for the ManchesterSalford Inner Relief Route works, jointly carried out by Manchester and Salford Councils, said: “These major works will significantly improve traffic flow on this busy route by increasing capacity at key junctions by up to 20 per cent.

“Unfortunately, there is no way to deliver these long term improvements without some degree of short-term disruption and we recognise that is frustrating. But without these works, the road would become more clogged long-term and people would end up spending more time stuck in queues.”