Tag Archives: forth road bridge

Willie Rennie’s concern for “knackered” Fife commuters

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 16th December 2015 - 11:02 am

Two weeks into the closure of the Forth Road Bridge, Willie Rennie has told the Scottish Transport Minister that more needs to be done to support commuters who are facing delays of up to two hours each way in their daily commute.

He quoted some of the problems people are facing:

I drive from Dalgety Bay to Bo’ness and have found myself getting frustrated by being forced into huge queues over Clackmannan bridge then joining light traffic coming over Kincardine. My mileage has also been trebled which is an issue financially. Surely it would make sense to allow cars to use the A985 from 7.00pm to 6.00am and all weekend as a starting point to ease local residents misery on this.”

“My main problem is time -up at 4.40 and leave work at 15.15. Travelling 4 hours.”

“Absolute disaster and a total shambles. Two weeks on and completely inadequate. Platforms overflowing. Insufficient coaches available to cater for the masses caught woefully short by the inadequacies caused by the Scottish Government. Increased cancellations. Promises not kept. People falling ill on overcrowded trains due to lack of space and resultant lack of ventilation. Cancellations. Delays.”

Willie is worried about the cumulative effects of these delays on travellers at a time of year when the dark nights and weather conditions don’t make for easy driving conditions. He said:

Posted in News | Also tagged transport and willie rennie | Leave a comment

How Tim Farron and Willie Rennie are helping constituents cope with crisis

By Caron Lindsay | Thu 10th December 2015 - 1:05 pm

Posted by Tim Farron on Sunday, 6 December 2015

Willie Rennie and Tim Farron have seen the areas they represent in Parliament hit by catastrophe and challenging circumstances. In Cumbria, Storm Desmond and its aftermath has caused devastation that will take months to fully sort out. In Scotland, Willie Rennie’s constituents have been hit by the closure of the Forth Road Bridge and the loss of a route that takes 70,000 cars per day. It’s not expected to re-open until the New Year.

Both Willie and Tim do a phenomenal amount of work to stay in touch with the people they represent anyway, but I have been very impressed with the work that both of them are doing to help people affected by these events.

Willie’s Facebook page catalogues all the conversations and correspondence he’s had with the Transport Minister Derek Mackay. He wanted to make sure that he was properly reflecting people’s concerns and put together a survey so that they can tell him what’s going on. Even before the end of the weekend, he had worked with the Minister to ensure that patients travelling from Fife for Chemo and Radiotherapy in Edinburgh were taken across the Bridge in ambulances rather than have to endure 11 mile tailbacks or take the huge risk of going on public transport, something that can be very dangerous if your immune system is compromised. He’s put a huge effort into keeping people informed. On a smaller scale, when he was MP, his Facebook page was the place here people looked to find out about school closures in that awful Winter of 2009. He is a hands-on representative who uses every method he can to find out what people need. You can see from his Facebook how he is working constructively with the Minister to get stuff done, putting forward his constituents’ suggestions and getting results.