I missed the start of a wedding because of new road rules sparking frustrating congestion – I’m furious

AN events planner was left fuming after he missed the start of wedding because new road rules caused congestion.

Oxfordshire County Council introduced Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) in east Oxford last month with locals saying it has caused disruption around Cowley Road.

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Chris Jones, a partner in Boys and Girls Promotions, told : “We have a number of staff who live off Cowley Road and we were not aware the LTNs were being implemented on the Friday night.

"On the Saturday it took an additional 15 or 20 minutes to pick people up then it just snowballed with and not being able to turn into certain roads, the congestion on Cowley Road, and we were an hour late for a wedding.

"That has never happened in 13 years. So you’ve already got the stresses and strains of the bride worrying if you’re coming, you are trying to set up late, guests are arriving, you know, for somebody’s special day, let's say it was not good."

He later tweeted: "The perfect storm! So one of our private weddings on Saturday went south quickly based on key elements starting with being late due to the LTN madness and it went down hill from there.

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"It breaks my heart to receive a disappointed email from a client but we have apologised to the client, discounted their invoice, reviewed internal procedures, and apologised to our staff… we go again!"

Mr Jones claimed the company was now having to pay staff for extra hours due to the extra time it took to commute.

He said: “We do events everywhere, Chipping Norton, Banbury, Henley, and staff are now wanting to be paid for all that travelling time as well as for working.

"The result is, we may have to think about putting our prices up.”

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Mr Jones added: “I think the council has this idea that everybody’s always looking at their website and knows what’s going on.

"They always talk about how they consulted businesses – they never consulted us in any way, shape or form.

"And I can imagine it is affecting a lot more businesses than ours.

“We know Oxford has a major air pollution problem and the town is just not built for the amount of traffic that goes through. But our company has electric minibuses and we like to think we are ahead of the game.

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"The LTNs seem short-term. What’s needed is a big, grown-up conversation about where we can make a city where everyone drives electric vehicles and that way we can reduce the air pollution. This is just short-term fixes.”

The local council hopes the LTNs will improve street safety and reduce pollution.

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