Highways Agency traffic officers help superheroes on their way

Highways Agency Traffic Officers proved to be the real heroes of the motorway when they helped a stranded Superman and his friends on the M40 recently.

Traffic Officers Phil Atkinson and Rajinder Mahay from the Agency's Eastern Region came across the 'man of steel' on the hard shoulder between junction 2 and 1a after he had to pull over with a punctured tyre. He had been driving in convoy with Spiderman, Batman, Robin and The Riddler, who were also parked on the hard shoulder. It turned out that the superheroes had decided to travel in costume from Birmingham to a car show in France.

Phil, Rajinder and their Traffic Officer colleagues who are based at the Heston Outstation on the M4 help hundreds of drivers every week but this was certainly one of the strangest incidents they have dealt with.

Traffic Officer Phil Atkinson said: "The great thing about our job is that you never know what to expect at the start of your shift. We come across many things during the course of duty but superheroes are a first!

"The hardshoulder is a very dangerous place so our main concern was to make sure they were safely out of their vehicles on the hard shoulder and standing as far away from the traffic as possible. No-one should stop on the hard shoulder unless it's an emergency or when directed to do so by a police officer or emergency sign or signal."

The traffic officers escorted Superman and his car to a safe place off the motorway and helped to arrange recovery.

Driver Paul Wood, a.k.a Superman, from Solihull said: "We thought driving in fancy dress seemed like a good idea. You'd think with the super powers between us we could have picked the car up and flown it off the motorway. We were very grateful to the Traffic Officers for their help. They made sure we were safe, helped us sort recovery out and also checked on us later to see if we were ok."

Traffic Officer Rajinder Mahay added: "Breaking down on the motorway can be a scary experience no matter who you are. Our advice to anyone setting out on a journey is to check your vehicle's oil, water, tyres and make sure that it is topped up with fuel before you leave. Make sure you have recovery cover in place in case you do break down.

"If you do have to stop on the hard shoulder in an emergency, try to use one of the emergency roadside telephones next to the hard shoulder as these will connect you straight to an operator in the nearest Regional Control Centre. They can then send a crew like us out to you or help arrange for recovery to get to you as soon as possible."

Highways Agency Traffic Officers patrol England's motorways 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They help manage incidents and keep traffic moving by assisting the police with motorway accidents, removing damaged and abandoned vehicles, clearing debris from the road, undertaking high visibility patrols, providing mobile / temporary road closures and supporting the police in their duties.

Officers in the East patrol all the major motorways as well as the A1(M) and A14. The service is coordinated from a Regional Control Centre at M25 Junction 23 where a team of operators are responsible for answering emergency roadside telephones, setting overhead message boards on motorways and despatching patrols to incidents across the region.