Fast lane for Old Firm fans
IT was a weekend of misery for thousands of motorists who found themselves crawling along a 55-mile detour.
But instead of joining ordinary drivers on gridlocked roads yesterday, Old Firm supporters from Northern Ireland were given a special escort through major roadworks.
Football supporters’ buses arriving in Stranraer were allowed to use a stretch of the A77 in Ayrshire as repairs were carried out over the weekend.
But the rest of the driving public had to take a detour of an hour and 20 minutes via Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire.
Transport chiefs said ‘specific access and escort arrangements’ had been made to accommodate ScotRail replacement bus services and football coaches.
The controversial decision came against a backdrop of wider weekend disruption in the south of Scotland, where a stretch of the A75 in Dumfriesshire was closed.
Supporters’ coaches were provided with an escort through the roadworks as they headed to Glasgow for Rangers’ match against Hearts and to Perth for Celtic’s clash with St Johnstone.
Thousands of Rangers and Celtic supporters from Northern Ireland travel to Scotland every week during the football season to follow their clubs.
The stretch of road between Ballantrae and Girvan was closed on Friday and was set to reopen early this morning. Road maintenance chiefs said the work was essential due to the damage caused to carriageways by the extreme winter conditions earlier in the year.
The repairs are part of an extensive programme of work, which will see the resurfacing of sections of carriageway at various locations between Cairnryan and Maybole.
However, Galloway and West Dumfries Tory MSP Finlay Carson said that combination of roadworks could create ‘unacceptable’ disruption for people travelling in the area.
Mr Carson said: ‘Similar works have previously been done under a convoy system, so I see no reason why this cannot be done this time as well.’
Roads maintenance company Scotland Transerv said the repair work was essential before winter sets in.