Watford Junction car park tunnel to become a no-go area for parked cars

Watford Mayor and Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Dorothy Thornhill and London Midland have agreed to turn the service road through the tunnel into Watford's first red route.

Ms Thornhill and County Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst met with the managing director of London Midland on Monday, to try and push for a solution to the congestion chaos.

Much of the congestion is caused by taxis lining up through the tunnel blocking off a lane of flowing traffic, causing a headache for station users.

Commuters are sick of waiting up to 40 minutes to try and exit the station every evening.

Watford Borough Council has already helped London Midland by providing a new crossing point on the service road, which was paid by the train line, to try and make the area safer.

Ms Thornhill said: "I do have huge sympathies for the taxi drivers, and understand entirely why they are feeling so frustrated too.

"They pay London Midland £500 a year to be able to pick up passengers from London Midland, and since the new layout has been put in place, they have found themselves with a lot less space.

There is no obvious solution to this problem, but all parties involved are trying to find some other place for the taxis to wait."

She added: "I am pleased that as a council we have helped make crossing the service road safer but its essential it’s not blocked up with parked cars. So I am pleased we have got London Midland to agree that from Friday the tunnel will become what is known as a ‘red route’.  They operate successfully in London, and this will be Watford’s first one."

As a long term solution to ease the congestion, the council want to create another entrance to the station via St Albans Road or from the rear. But this land is currently owned by HSBC.

The county council are also looking into creating new drop off bays in Station Road.

Ms Thornhill said: "When the station forecourt layout was changed we lost the passenger drop-off bay and now have to go round a big loop to get into the short term car park.  

"We asked for a new bay in the original plans, and have pushed for one since, but until now it has been refused by Network Rail and London Midland.  I am pleased this request is now being taken seriously, and that Cllr Giles-Medhurst is getting the County Council moving on this."

A solution for reducing the number of buses that sit otuside the station in Woodford Road was also put forward at the meeting on Monday.

Cllr Giles-Medhurst said: "It has been a source of huge frustration to see that we still have buses parked up on the road rather than in the bus depot.

"The original aim was to take all the buses off the road but this is still not happening, because Transport for London say it's not safe to get all the buses into the bus station without further changes to the layout."

Network Rail have also agreed to look at a long-term plan into improving Watford Junction station, which is now getting close to its maximum capacity.