11 July 2025
Bedford Ian has been looking at recent goings on across Bedford Borough and tells us what he thinks of it all.
National embarrassment
Remember the Black Cat chaos earlier this month? The hours of standstill traffic, drivers stranded for miles, babies without food and water, workers missing pay, people missing once-in-a-lifetime events?
Read: “We’re sorry”, National Highways apologises for Black Cat chaos
National Highways posted a bland apology on social media — and then crawled back behind their media officer and refused to say another word.
We asked for an interview. We asked them to explain what went wrong, what they’ve learned, and what’s being done to stop it from happening again. They refused.
For an organisation running one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the country, that is nothing short of disgraceful.
It’s 2025. Hiding behind a press office is not good enough. You don’t just get to post a graphic that says “Sorry” and hope people forget they spent hours trapped on your mismanaged roads. You don’t just get to shrug off the very real human impact of your mistakes.
National Highways needs to understand this: when you control the roads, you also carry a responsibility to the people who use them. That means owning up when you get it wrong and telling people what you’ll do better next time.
If you can’t even face basic scrutiny, why should anyone believe you can manage the next stage of this project or the EWR disruption that’s coming?
Do better. Stop hiding. We’re not going away. And neither are the people you let down.
Blocked tackle
Since our very own Tom, arguably one of the country’s most ethical sports reporters, ran the story about a local football manager receiving a match ban, it seems the manager didn’t take it too well.
Rather than, say, reflecting on his conduct, issuing a statement, or even just keeping his head down, he apparently decided the real problem here was Tom. So he’s gone ahead and blocked and unfollowed him on social media. That’ll show him.
Because, of course, when you’re in the spotlight for poor behaviour, nothing screams accountability like throwing a minor digital tantrum and pretending the journalist who reported the facts doesn’t exist.
We’ll leave our readers to decide what to make of that.
Roundabout rudeness
Time for a little love letter to the Clapham Road/Manton Lane/Shakespeare Road roundabout. Or more accurately, to the drivers who treat it like their personal lay-by.
Anyone trying to carry on along Clapham Road will know the pain: drivers coming out of Shakespeare Road to go straight on for Manton Lane or right, stop dead in the middle of the roundabout, blocking everyone else.
Apparently, the concept of “don’t enter unless your exit is clear” is too much for some people to grasp.
It’s simple. If you can see you’re just going to end up stranded in the middle of the junction, maybe… don’t. You’re not helping yourself, and you’re definitely not helping anyone else.
Maybe Bedford Borough Council could paint a proper yellow box junction there to make it crystal clear, though judging by the one on Broadway/High Street, we know some will ignore it anyway.
Still, worth a try. And until then, if you can’t figure it out for yourself, maybe the big yellow box will spell it out for you.
See you soon, Bedford Ian.
PS: If you see anything Bedford Ian might find amusing, tell us at news@BedfordIndependent.co.uk.
