Scotland TranServ’s Trunk Roads Incident Support Service (TRISS) teams have assisted more than 8,000 stranded motorists on Scotland’s major trunk roads over the last year.
Working on behalf of Transport Scotland, the TRISS and wider incident support unit (ISU) teams patrol the network across south west Scotland looking for stranded motorists to help. They are supported and directed by colleagues back at the Polmadie and at Traffic Scotland in South Queensferry who monitor the motorways through fixed cameras that relay instant images back to these nerve centres.
Since the contract began in April 2013, the TRISS teams have helped more than 8,000 drivers, attending over 98% of incidents within 20 minutes.
Network control centre manager Tommy Docherty said: “The tireless efforts of the TRISS and ISU teams often goes unappreciated by many motorists, sometimes they are mistaken for speed camera vans or works vans and do receive some abuse. The majority of drivers though are thankful that they are there to lend a hand and keep drivers safe if they get in trouble. On more than one occasion they’ve come to the aid of motorists in dire straits and we do receive some complementary letters and emails.”
On one recent occasion TRISS operatives Iain Barr (pictured) and John Burnside attended a stranded motorist on the M8 at Glasgow Airport. Lynn Murdoch’s car had broken down on a stretch of the motorway where there is no hard shoulder, and where it was difficult for other drivers to see her. They towed her to a safe place above the motorway at Arkleston and helped her to contact her husband.
She said: “They even offered to stay with me until he arrived. After the event I had chest pains, dizziness and a pain in my left arm. My husband took me to hospital where it was confirmed that I had suffered a heart attack, due to the fear of almost being killed on the motorway. The two operatives were absolutely fantastic with me, and I am so grateful to them.”
Murdoch attended the Royal Alexandria Hospital in Paisley, where she has since made a full recovery.
Russell Rennie, Scotland TranServ’s contract director added: “The service provided by our TRISS and ISU teams is invaluable. It is amazing that for such a small team they seem to be ever present on our trunk roads. They continually patrol the network to offer what assistance they can and to keep stranded motorists safe, using the highly visible vehicles and its electronic signage as a barrier to notify oncoming traffic.”
