Slow going on M4 as drivers protest

THE Wiltshire section of the M4 witnessed a celebration of British eccentricity on Saturday.

As I arrived in the westbound car park at Leigh Delamare services near junction 17 I was amazed to see several hundred Minis.

It turned out they were off on their annual bank holiday Riviera Run, a gathering of up to 500 Mini owners heading for Cornwall.

On the other side of the motorway about 65 cars and 12 motorbikes were lined up for the anti-speed camera demo.

Organiser Robin Summerhill, 52, from Chippenham, said: "Ordinary, everyday people have turned up and by their presence are showing enough is enough."

Maybe, but a random sample of 65 ordinary everyday people's cars would be unlikely to include two Rolls Royces, two classic Cadillacs and several Mercedes and BMWs.

Rolls Royce Corniche driving Ian Kieschke, 63, from Bradford on Avon, spent much of his working life in Shanghai, where Wiltshire Police's speed cameras do not yet have jurisdiction.

He said: "The police are abusing their powers using these speed cameras, because they are not genuinely placing the cameras where the road safety problems are."

The assembled demonstrators were a very male bunch. This was a testosterone-fuelled operation.

I looked around to see if any local election candidates were nailing their colours to the protesters' cause. I spotted Alan Hayward, Independent candidate in South Swindon and Arjuna Krishna-Das, 40, the Green candidate in Bristol East.

Mr Hayward drives between junctions 16 at Swindon and 18 at Bath every day on his way to work as an IT contractor in Yate.

He said: "Cameras catch normal motorists. They don't catch tailgating drivers or middle-lane drivers. We need more police to catch the 10 per cent who are idiots."

At 11am we set off. We were near the front. The idea was that we would use lanes one and two, driving in pairs, and keeping two seconds distance between each car for safety reasons.

We were trying to stick to 56 mph but other cars in the convoy were going at different speeds.

Robin said: "We could have done with somebody with a military mind."

About 15 minutes later we met the second convoy of protesters, travelling in the opposite direction.

Organisers of stunts like this have to tread a fine line. They can't cause too much chaos, as that would seem irresponsible. But if they don't cause any, their protest is in danger of going unnoticed.

One frustrated lorry driver pulled into the fast lane to overtake the convoy.

I asked Robin what had turned him from somebody who was a bit annoyed by the cameras, to a man who felt so strongly he had to organise a full-scale demo, pulling in people from as far away as London and North Wales.

He said: "I just felt somebody needed to do something. I wish somebody else had thought of it, but there comes a time when you have to do something."

Along the route, people waved and members of the media looked on from the bridges.

Some reports said there were more than 400 motorists getting in on the action, but my estimate would be closer to 200.

After 20 minutes we looked round and saw a completely empty motorway behind us.

We reached Membury and, after several phone calls, Robin said: "Somebody behind us decided to have a personal protest and go at about 23 miles an hour."

Confusion surrounded an accident near Mill Lane overbridge on the morning of the protest.

Nobody was injured in the collision, which happened at 11.55am near junction 16 at Swindon, but police claimed the demonstrators were responsible.

Inspector Wayne Smith, of Swindon traffic police, who had previously warned that the protest would be dangerous, said: "The protesters have caused one accident and we've had a number of complaints about their driving, which we intend to pursue.

"Some drove much slower than they said they would.

"Some were driving at 25mph, and it caused more congestion and danger.

"A motorway is a dangerous place to hold a demonstration.

"To purposely slow vehicles down is irresponsible."

Dave Andrew