VALE Royal Police road policing unit would like to respond to a letter entitled Chaos at school time which featured in the Guardian on March 30.

In recent weeks, a number of abnormal loads have passed through Davenham and on each occasion the hauliers, the police and other agencies who escort the loads, have been dedicated to ensuring there is minimum disruption to the roads network.

Weeks of planning go into these journeys.

On March 18 problems were encountered and the loads were required to park up for an hour-and-a-half to await replacement tyres after a number of them deflated. This unavoidable delay meant the journey was behind schedule and therefore the loads arrived in Davenham at the end of the school day.

The route taken by abnormal loads is dictated by the Ministry of Transport and everyone involved in the process must stick to this route. As the bridges on Northwich bypass are too low to accommodate the loads, they continue to travel through Davenham.

The service provided by the police escorting abnormal loads is paid for by the hauliers. Therefore no frontline duty officers are lost nor is there any cost to the tax payer. The officers also have an insight into the area as they work on the roads day in, day out.

Without the support of the police and other agencies, companies who need to move large equipment from A to B would not be able to function and the cost to both the companies and their workers would be huge.

PC DAVID ENFIELD

Roads Policing Unit, Northwich Police Station