How to turn migrant crisis into M6 chaos
WAS the welfare of the 27 suspected migrants in the back of a truck deemed so critical that the vehicle had to be stopped on the hard shoulder of the M6 last week, causing chaos, rather than being directed off the motorway at the next junction? The action of the police in closing both carriageways for hours reinforces my suspicion that they revel in their power to shut the country’s main arteries at the drop of a hat. Hundreds of fans heading to the Etihad Stadium missed the Carabao
Cup semi-final match between Manchester City and Burton Albion, which kicked off at 7.45pm. The southbound carriageway reopened at 7.15pm, after being shut at 5.30pm, but the northbound was closed until 10pm. No doubt Staffordshire Police were proud to go the extra mile to protect a disadvantaged minority. Conversely, they won’t impress the green lobby after all the stranded drivers left their engines running for hours just to keep warm.
T. hIcKMan, Southampton, hants.
HAVING come all the way from the South Coast, surely it would have been more appropriate for the suspect lorry to have been diverted by police into the nearest service area or the next junction, where the migrants could have been detained in a more suitable environment than on the hard shoulder of the M6. Will officers explain to all the stranded drivers, who suffered so much inconvenience, why they decided to create such chaos?
D. EDWaRDS, leighton Buzzard, Beds.