WITH NO quick-fix solution in sight for the landslide that has closed the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful, Kintyre is preparing for the long-haul.
AFTER only a fortnight haulage companies are counting the staggering costs of having to detour via Crianlarich and sometimes as far as Stirling; private motorists and bus passengers are having to contend with longer journeys on a congested A82 which is struggling to cope with bad weather extra traffic.
Hopes are pinned on an inspection of the hillside today and whatever decision Scotland TransServe makes to reopen, even if only single-track during daylight.
The sodden hillside has had more water pumped on, in an effort to bring down the rest of the loose soil and debris in a controlled landslide. Then the road needs to be cleared and strengthened.
Only a fraction of Kintyre’s timber leaves by sea and the remainder, like everything else, is transported in and out by road. Kintyre haulier Peter McKerral has seen the productivity of his business drop by nearly 25 per cent in a week.
‘It is adding a 120 miles onto a round trip,’ he said of his timber haulage work, ‘that is an hour-and-a-half each way; three hours extra in all.’
To keep the contracts running to time and taking into account the drivers’ compulsory rest periods the firm would need more vehicles and staff.
‘And you can’t just find extra drives and extra lorries just like that,’ he said, ‘we are struggling to cope with the workload.
‘There has also been a lack of communication from anyone on the progress of the A83. This Monday there was no more information than last Monday.’
Calum McFadyen of McFadyen’s Transport reports that he has seen an increase in costs of up to 30 per cent.
His firm now has to bring steel deliveries from Stoke-on Trent in the English Midlands and from Belshill to Vestas Celtic’s wind farm factory via Stirling.
‘That A82 is a nightmare; the steel loads are wider than the lorries and the A819 Dalmally road is every bit as bad, the roads are just not fit. ‘A lorry went off there earlier this week,’ he said. ‘And if that A82 goes it is not just Kintyre but the whole of the West Coast. If that road was leading into London it would have been fixed overnight.’
He added: ‘I hope I am wrong but there is a fatality waiting to happen I fear; there are a lot of frustrated drivers out there.’
Mr McFadyen has seen his production costs go up by a third: ‘We can’t get it done with the Tachograph restrictions, we have to put an extra driver on.’
The knock-on effects are going to be felt by businesses across Kintyre as a whole because of the costs of bringing in materials and livestock feeds.
‘We’re having to run on 1950s roads; the roads here are 50 years behind the times and they had the chance to put the Rest and Be Thankful right during the last slip in 2002 the hillside needs to be drained properly, right down to some of it being done by hand,’ said Mr McFadyen.
At last week’s meeting of the Kintyre Initiative Working Group the members expressed their concern at the road being closed again.
Jim Martin said at the Forum: ‘One theory put forward is that now there are no longer sheep on the hill that is adding to the drainage problems.’
West Coast Motors operates the City Link service between Campbeltown and Glasgow, and transport manager Danny Halliday reported this week that the firm has to put an extra driver on the service at Ardrishaig, to comply with the driver’s rest hours.
‘A driver must have a 45 minute break every four-and-a-half hours by law,’ he said. ‘So we need extra drivers.’
At Tarbet the buses have to double back to Arrochar to pick up passengers.
‘Our drivers know the A82, we also run the Glasgow to Skye service for City Link,’ said Mr Halliday.
One major concern for all Kintyre drivers, be they private motorists, hauliers or coach drivers, is that the A82 might be blocked by flooding or an accident.
‘If that happens the diversion into Glasgow is via Stirling,’ said Mr Halliday, ‘and that adds another one hour 15 minutes to the journey.’
‘If the road is going to be shut long-term then we have to look at compensation because of the extra manpower and extra fuel,’ he added.
Fay Harris, the Caledonian MacBrayne manager for Kintyre and Islay reports that to her knowledge no one has missed a connection to Islay because of the road closure.
‘We have excellent communications between ourselves and West Coast Motors,’ she said, ‘and two years ago CalMac launched a text messaging service and we can send SMS messages to passengers and that system has really come into its own at a time like this.’
Gordon Ross managing director of Western Ferries runs boats from Hunter’s Quay, Dunoon, reports an increase in passengers.
‘We have put on extra sailings,’ he confirmed, ‘and we are taking more freight as well.
‘Coming down to us adds another 20 minutes to the journey rather than 45 so we are picking up a lot of customers.’
