Calls for bridge contingency plan

A Fife MP has called for a full-scale contingency plan to prevent gridlock when wind closes the Forth Road Bridge.

Willie Rennie said a stacking system used for vehicles waiting to board cross-Channel ferries in England should be replicated in Scotland.

It would filter lorries and high-sided vehicles away from the crossing and onto alternative routes. A special radio station would transmit advice.

Mr Rennie said an alternative must be found to the recent police roadblocks.

He has written to Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson suggesting the measure - which he has called Operation Filter - to prevent further long tailbacks developing on routes around the bridge.

The name is a variation of Operation Stack, which Kent Police operate on the M20 motorway leading to the ferry port in Dover.

The Liberal Democrat MP for West Fife said: "Traffic chaos during high winds causes my constituents a lot of grief. Operation Filter is a scheme that the police are keen to introduce and I am determined to see implemented.

"There will always be some level of disruption, we have come to accept that, until the new bridge is built with its modern wind shields.

"However, Operation Filter will go a long way to minimise the wait during high winds."

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