MANY Herefordshire motorists take to the roads every day to attend jobs outside of the county. Simon Burnett is one such driver who makes the daily commute – and finds the journey usually ends in frustration.

MANY Herefordshire residents work outside the county. Simon Burnett, from Clehonger faces a daily commute to Bristol and feels he has no alternative to driving to work.

Despite looking for environmentally friendly alternatives, Mr Burnett has yet to find a convenient solution which can guarantee he can get to work in a reasonable amount of time.

“I’ve been commuting to work for years. I love Herefordshire and have no desire to leave but my field of professional expertise has zero work within the county or any other surrounding county, and so I must travel to a major city,” said Mr Burnett, who works in engineering.

“These days I work in Bristol, right in the centre and only 10 minutes from Temple Meads. Sadly, the transport links are still via Newport and the travelling times are still very poor.

“The difference is that I have a comfortable company car and a fuel card. I could have opted for a public transport allowance instead, but the drive only takes around 75 minutes.”

Mr Burnett said driving to Abergavenny to pick up a train proved to be an unrealistic option.

“On the face of it this is not such a bad solution in that it takes a similar amount of time by car to get to the rail station as it does to Hereford, due to Belmont Road’s slow crawl in the mornings,” he said.

“However, then you discover that there are only 64 car parking spaces, and that explains why the two lay-bys, just north of the Llanfoist roundabout at Abergavenny, always have loads of empty cars parked there all day.”

“As with the county’s roads, the rail services and facilities are seriously wanting. Nothing is joined up, and until this is done the outlook for using public transport for the rural commuter is very poor,” he said.

On the way to work Mr Burnett comes across many aspects of driving he finds infuriating. These include getting stuck behind slow moving traffic and long queues.

“Overtaking is common, and often done at risk as drivers attempt to pass up to six or seven cars in the queue, and this results in irate flashing of headlights as these overtakers attempt to squeeze back into the procession at a more forward position,” he said.

Mr Burnett appeals to drivers to let overtaking vehicles back in and for those driving slow moving vehicles to make sure they let other road users past.

“The fact remains that getting out of Herefordshire in a reasonable time is becoming worse each day,” he said.

“Surely it is time for Herefordshire to catch up with the rest of the country and have modern and above all useful transport links in all directions.”