Carillion 'will pay' for big freeze road chaos

The Highways Agency has given its strongest indication yet that Carillion will face penalties following its role in the roads chaos caused by January's big freeze.

Speaking at a transport select committee hearing last week, the Agency's chief executive Tim Matthews said that he would be reviewing a report on the 30/31 January incident when roads froze and commuters were stranded overnight in their vehicles along stretches of the M11 in Cambridgeshire.

Although Matthews told the committee he would not make snap decisions, "actions would be taken against the contractor".

Carillion, which is responsible for the stretch of road as part of its Area 8 MAC, has been publicly accused of reacting slowly with its gritting trucks to tackle the freeze.

Describing events, Matthews said that the contractor had made a "defensible but misjudged" decision to grit so late in the afternoon of 30 January.

Carillion had originally been told that temperatures wouldn't drop below zero before 5pm. However, by early lunchtime the freeze had started and the contractor responded at 1pm.

Matthews added that contractual requirements state roads must be gritted before they freeze, although the time to grit is up to the judgement of the contractor.

Action is also expected over the discovery that radio communication between Carillion's control centre and its 37 gritting trucks had malfunctioned despite earlier warnings from the Agency to repair it. During the crisis gritting crews had to rely on mobile phones, intensifying the communication breakdown.

Payment to the contractor has been questioned by Labour committee member Clive Efford MP. He asked whether contractors "could cut corners" on winter maintenance as they are paid in lump sums up front for works by the Agency.

Matthews replied that if a "narrow view" was taken it could be seen that way, but it is not in contractors' best interests to cut corners.

However, Efford replied that "somebody had to pay for the problems caused" and pointed the finger towards Carillion.

Asked by Conservative committee member George Osborne if the Agency could change under-performing contractors, Matthews said it could as there was "strong competition for work".

As CJ went to press, Carillion was still preparing its response to the committee's findings.