Stop moaning about Bridge of Allan’s HGV traffic

Dear Sir

I read with interest Alastair McNeill’s report in the Observer (May 23, 2018) on the traffic problems in Bridge of Allan’s Henderson Street.

Recently, like the people of Plean, those in Bridge of Allan and to a lesser extent Bannockburn’s seem to have forgotten that the road running through their villages is a major trunk road called the A9; it is not some unclassified minor route unfit for HGVs.

Henderson Street resident Margaret Leishman is quoted as saying in the story: “The lorries that use the road are huge. It’s unbelievable.” Well let me tell you, Mrs Leishman, articulated lorries are huge and it’s totally believable.

Would the good people of Bridge of Allan moan if the shops had no goods to buy because they banned HGVs from the town. Like it or not Britain was built on its road network and there is no viable alternative to moving goods about this country. I will grant you some hauliers use the road to avoid the VOSA checkpoint at Craigforth, but if you are a lorry from a local business or in Bridge of Allan delivering then the quickest, easiest, most green and fuel efficient way of joining the M9 is through the town. So stop moaning, teach your kids how to cross the road safely and get on with it. Don’t divert traffic so it becomes someone else’s problem.

Bennie McLay Whins of Milton (where all the traffic comes past due to the Kerse Road closure)