Road users help and advice 

If you want to report a problem or make a suggestion about a road you use, the best way is usually through the website of the body that manages that road. 

Most roads in Great Britain are managed by councils, including London boroughs.  Where there is a two-tier local government structure, the county council is responsible for roads. The more significant roads, including most motorways, are provided by central government – they are called trunk roads.  In England, they are managed by National Highways (previously called Highways England), in Wales by the Welsh Government and in Scotland by Transport Scotland.  Transport for London is responsible for major routes, red routes, in London. 

If the issue is to do with one of the motorways or major ‘A’ roads in England managed by National Highways, you can report a problem here or to just get in touch with them click here.  Take a look at a map of the roads National Highways manage. 

  • information about trunk roads in Scotland can be found here
  • information about trunk roads in Wales can be found here
  • information about Red Routes in London can be found here. 

About

As the watchdog for users of motorways and major ‘A’ roads (the strategic road network) managed by Highways England, we aim to ensure that the user voice is heard by those funding, planning, building and maintaining them. This involves:

  • providing research on road user satisfaction via our strategic roads user survey (SRUS), the official measure of consumer satisfaction used by Highways England
  • influencing policy on key issues through research, including smart motorways, roadworks and information
  • ensuring that all road users voices are heard, including cyclists, pedestrians and equestrians
  • campaigning on issues affecting road users, such as #sortmysign.

Our stakeholder managers, based around the country, work with Highways England’s central teams and regions, ensuring that local issues are addressed and our research recommendations are implemented.  Our work includes:

  • working with individual road schemes, ensuring road user needs are considered before and during roadworks
  • attending regional customer working groups, representing the road user voice
  • pressing for policy change, to ensure better information is available for road users online and at the roadside
  • discussing our #sortmysign campaign reports, ensuring individual reports are actioned
  • challenging regions to improve their satisfaction scores, using SRUS results via our datahub.

 

What we know about road users

Transport Focus carries out in-depth research into transport user experiences and needs for the future, resulting in lists of top priorities. This work includes the Strategic Roads User Survey (SRUS) and Motorway Service Users Survey (MSUS). The results of both these surveys are used by staff who liaise with key stakeholders at Highways England or across the motorway services sector to highlight where action and investment are required to deliver improvements for road users.

In addition we convene a Road User Panel that meets quarterly to bring together a broad range of over 20 organisations with a stake in the roads agenda.
Read more about SRUS

Who to complain to

If you have a specific complaint about the Strategic Road Network (SRN) or Highways England, you can complain directly.

Click here to find out how to complain to Highways England. If the road is not on the SRN then you should contact your local authority.

If you would like to make a general comment about the Strategic Road Network (SRN) or Highways England please click here.

What is the Strategic Road Network?

 

Download a copy of the map here: Map of the Strategic Road Network (2020)

Better management of roadworks

Our incidents and roadworks research continues to help Highways England plan and deliver roadworks with less impact on road users.

As a result of our recommendations, Highways England encourages its project managers to:

  • co-ordinate project plans with other local projects and infrastructure schemes
  • make better use of appropriate speed limits
  • make better, more targeted, information before the works start.

 

Motorway services Coronavirus precautions

Motorway services are a vital part of many road trips and have an important safety role in keeping people refreshed and revived. During the pandemic, we reviewed motorway service area websites to check that it was easy for people to find out what to expect regarding social distancing, sanitiser, and mask wearing.

To start with some of them were missing key information but they took on board our comments and made changes to help reassure road users.

 

Transport User Team

Nina Howe
Dan Taylor
Martin Clarke