I don’t know what was going on yesterday, but the M25 was very, very troublesome.

We were on our way round to our respective parents, and were doing well on the motorway until we got to the stretch between Waltham Abbey and the A10 (J25). A police car with all its lights on screamed past us, and started to zig-zag over all the lanes slowing the traffic down. As we approached the A10, the signs were posting lower and lower speed limits, and was warning of an incident. Traffic coming the other way was thinning as well. By the time we got to the tunnel just before the A10 junction, it was very obvious that we could be stuck in a long queue, so we bailed, joined the A10 and continued cross country. From what I could tell, there had been a crash and they had to close the motorway.

THEN, coming back from my parents to my wife’s (Watford to St Albans), again, the M25 on 21A clockwise, on the slip road there was a traffic patrol car blocking the road, and the traffic moving slowly on the motorway. A rolling roadblock approached, and we were allowed to join. There was a lorry in some kind of distress on what was the hard shoulder.

AND AGAIN, on the way home, approaching junction 27 (M11), we were passed by a couple of police cars. Signs were closing lanes, and the traffic was being slowed down. I wondered if there had been some kind of smash in the tunnel, but we were brought to a halt just after there. More police cars and an ambulance passed on the closed lanes. I think were were there for about half an hour or so before traffic started to move again. We passed two smashed cars - one on its roof - just before the M11 slip road.

I don't think I've ever been on the M25 without being stationary on the carriageway at least once during the journey.

Last time we passed a car on fire on the hard shoulder (the driver was stood with his luggage about 100 years away) with no emergency services in sight or in earshot, and considering that at the time we were moving at little over walking pace, no idea if and when they would ever reach him! We were on the way to a gig in Croydon, and TBH it might well have been quicker to have driven through central London.

I went to Kent on Friday via Dartford tunnel and had no problems. Came back yesterday and had a clear run then too #win

how often do you go to superman to solve all your problems?

It doesn't surprise me that you haven't heard of the place called Kent.

I find the M25 south of Heathrow is always at a crawl.
Thankfully I don't go near Dartford any more. As a child we had to go through the tunnel (no bridge back then) at rush hour if we were visiting family friends. Three lanes down to two was always grid lock.

Traffic is usually very slow between J10 and J15 (Heathrow). Infuriating but unsurprising.

There's works on both the M4 and the M5. nearly all of west London was gridlocked at the weekend.

As long as you're not driving through on a rush hour there's usually isn't a problem.

Everyone's heard of Kent >:( quite a few German Luftwaffe aircraft were shot down there

Of course it had to have some relevance to war

When I think of bratty, the first word that springs to mind is often Kent. :etc:

You spelt it wrong

Oh yeah... tut

well duh, kent means "I knew" in scottish or "I understood already"

all english are kents.