National Highways teams are gearing up to make sure motorists heading home for Christmas in the Midlands don’t end up “top to toe in tailbacks”, with “red lights all around”. 

Last year, National Highways traffic officers attended almost 400 incidents on Christmas Day according to organisational data.  In the West Midlands region, there were 43 incidents involving everything from vehicle breakdowns to animals on the network and even abandoned vehicles.

Gaye Bayliss has been working as a National Highways Traffic Officer for the past nine years and will be on shift this year on Christmas Day.   Gaye is based at Warndon outstation and has vast experience patrolling some of the busiest roads in the Midlands such as the M5, M40 and M42.

Whenever there is an incident, Gaye’s priorities are to keep people safe. She will also stop traffic to clear obstructions and spills, help remove broken-down vehicles, and support the police and other emergency services by managing road closures when there’s a serious incident.

Gaye Bayliss is a National Highways traffic officer and will be out patrolling the Midlands motorway network on Christmas morning.

Gaye said: “I like working Christmas Day because there’s a real team spirit and you know how important the day is to everyone because they’re travelling to see friends or family for a special occasion. On a personal note, that added sense of duty gives me extra pride in helping to make those journeys happen whether it’s helping motorists who experience unexpected vehicle breakdowns or helping to clear incidents.

“Christmas Day itself can be busy and I’d say one of the most common occurrences is people running out of fuel. I’ve been stood at the roadside before with people who are on their phones desperately trying to find the nearest filling station which is open and of course, there aren’t many open on 25 December."

“It’s really important that motorists fill up their tanks before setting off and make sure they follow our T.R.I.P acronym to help the plan their journey.

“Our advice would always be to firstly make sure that you have plenty of fuel for the trip and if in doubt, go out and top up the day before to make sure you don’t run out. It’s also important to plan a rest every two hours, check your tyres are in good condition and to make sure you have a warm coat and fluids with you in case of severe weather."

National Highways on-road traffic officers are often first on the scene in an incident. They work hand-in-hand with seven regional control centres. Seven teams across the country respond to emergency calls, setting signs and signals and deploying resources where needed. They also liaise with the emergency services during incidents and provide live traffic updates via social media. 

This year Gaye and her traffic officer colleagues in the Midlands will be supported by National Highways Duty Operations Manager, Rady Salim, who will be working in the Midlands Operations Centre in Quinton. Rady has worked at National Highways for the past 13 years and says working Christmas Day can be interested and varied. 

He said: “No two days are ever the same and the job is unpredictable by nature, but even more so on Christmas Day.

“In previous years when I’ve worked over Christmas it’s actually been very busy because we’ve had the motorway closed due to a major incident. We’re always acutely aware that people don’t like being caught in congestion, so we work hard behind-the-scenes to get people moving as safely and as quickly as possible. We will never willingly close a road because we understand the significance of people using our network.

“However, we still have a role to play in keeping people safe and if the emergency services require a closure to deal with an incident, we’re there to make sure that happens safely with as little disruption as possible for drivers.

“You never know what to expect and our staff, both out on-road and in control rooms, will be on hand 24/7 and ready to respond to all eventualities to ensure everyone using our network gets to where they need to safe and well.”

National Highways duty operations manager Rady Salim will be working in the West Midlands Regional Operations Centre.

And to make sure any incidents on England’s major A-road and motorway network don’t cause widespread gridlock across the country, a hidden army of staff will also be working throughout the festive period at the National Traffic Operations Centre (NTOC) near Birmingham.

The teams working at NTOC have a strategic overview of the network – sort of like air traffic control for England’s major A-roads and motorways – and can see everything at a glance.
National Incident Liaison Officer Megan Cartwright from Old Hill will be on shift Christmas morning from 6am to 2pm. Megan joined the company three years ago and this year will be the second time she has worked on 25 December.

She will be responsible for working with the seven regional control centres to ensure they have a strategic picture of the road network to help inform decision-making as well as keeping motorists informed of incidents on social media channels.

Megan Cartwright will be working on Christmas Day at the National Traffic Operations Centre in Birmingham.

She said: “I will start my shift at around 5.45am and finish around 2pm which is a key part of the day because will be up and about to make journeys to see friends and family. Our social media channels play a key part in helping people to plan their journeys and we update them constantly to make sure everyone has the very latest information from us.

“I enjoy working on Christmas morning because there’s a real sense of teamwork here and people will often bring in food to make a breakfast. The sense of comradery is really great, and you feel part of an extended family.

“I’ll be home in the afternoon so I can spend time with my family and that’s when I'll see my mother because she is also working on Christmas Day. As a family, we’ve become accustomed to people working shift patterns, but we always make sure we spend time to mark the occasion.”

National Network Manager, Amy Fellows from Wolverhampton will also be working at Quinton on Christmas morning. Amy’s job includes managing a reporting framework, keeping social media updated alongside the NILO team and maintaining a strategic overview of the road network.

Amy Fellows will be working on Christmas Day for National Highways in its National Traffic Operations Centre.

She said: “Working on Christmas Day is a unique experience because you know that peoples journeys are going to be varied and it is unpredictable as to what might happen. Some years the roads have been quiet, but a lot depends on the weather and some people often travel on the morning itself.

“My role is to make sure that we co-ordinate any incidents from a national perspective and that we keep drivers and our stakeholders informed of what is happening on the network. Our NILO reports will be issued to utility companies, train companies and colleagues in the Department for Transport to make sure that they know what is happening in real-time. As a team there is always a good spirit in the control room on Christmas Day and we all know that we’re here to help make those journeys to see friends and loved ones smoothly and with as little disruption as possible.”

For more information on driving safely including tips on looking after your tyres and how to keep oil levels topped up, head online to https://nationalhighways.co.uk/road-safety/