A leading North-east transport company has thrown its weight behind an online petition demanding that the government upgrade the A1 from Morpeth to Berwick in order to boost the region's economy. Blyth, Northumberland-based Fergusons Transport has now set up a website -http://www.a1north.com/ - to publicise the petition which has been raised on the Prime Minister's 10 Downing Street website. It aims to "put the great back in the Great North Road".
It has also liveried two trailers to publicise the website which were left in prominent positions over the bank holiday weekend. At present Newcastle and Edinburgh are only linked by a single carraigeway road, forcing trucks to travel at 40 mph. Alan Ferguson, boss of the 150 truck firm, says that road improvements are vital to attract inward investment into the region. He says: "When you are trying to sell the region to businesses from countries like Japan then you have to be seen as well connected."
So far local MPs from the three main parties have signed the petition, but Ferguson is hopeful that Tony Blair, whose constituency is in Sedgefield, Co Durham, will also add his name: "It would be a great swansong for him to go out on if he did this for the region." Fergusons Transport will finish integrating Waugh Road Services, which it bought last year, into the company when it moves Waugh's operation from Benton, near Newcastle to its Washington, Tyne & Wear site later this month. Fergusons says it will gain a number of operational efficiencies from the move.
