A VIP Traffic Officer ride out for young Toby

Toby Mozourous first came to our attention two years ago, when he customised a remote-control Range Rover into his very own model traffic officer vehicle.

His interest in our on-road support service was sparked after a traffic officer tended to the family following a collision on the M42 in the Midlands. After creating his own model Traffic Officer vehicle a year later, and after the first Covid lockdown, Toby enjoyed a socially distanced meeting with on-road team manager Angela Fenne at Exeter Services – where he received a personal invitation to have a trip out for real.

Two years on, and with the pandemic restrictions lifted, the 12-year-old’s promise was fulfilled with a VIP visit for him and mum Claire to the Pridhamsleigh traffic officer base in Devon – and a special passenger seat trip up the A38 and M5.

Traffic officer Angela said: “We all loved Toby’s remote-control traffic officer vehicle, absolutely brilliant, and it was a real pleasure to have Toby and mum along as passengers and to experience what we do out on patrol.”

Toby, a pupil at Hele’s School in Plympton, is keen on all technology and is certainly not ruling out a position with National Highways as one of his career options.

He said: “It was exciting to meet up during the pandemic and a real surprise to be invited out after Covid.

“It was a great experience and really interesting to learn what National Highways does out on our roads, the important work they do and about the hybrid vehicles now being used by the traffic officers.”

For more information about National Highways and its traffic officer service click here.