There was traffic chaos on Egham Hill again on Saturday as hundreds of motorists descended on Royal Holloway for its main Open Day.
Following the disarray and danger seen at previous Open Days, a report was produced which showed that one of the main issues concerned the use of the campus’s main gate where traffic coming from both directions along the A30 was turning into the gate at the same time. Vehicles were then stopping while drivers consulted marshals positioned just inside the gate for parking and other arrival information. This, of course, meant that the cars behind also had to stop and the tailbacks carried out onto the main road blocking traffic from both directions.
The stationary cars not only led to heavy congestion but also dangerous situations where frustrated drivers travelling west resorted to overtaking the queues by travelling along the hatched road markings just outside the main gate and then cutting-in in front of traffic coming from the other direction.
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| Cars overtaking on the hatched lines and then cutting-in to avoid stationary traffic |
Following the Open Day in 2024 Surrey Police advised that “conversation with the university was required about how they organised the Open Day” and, in a meeting chaired by Royal Holloway Provost, Tracy Bhamra, a representative of Surrey Police pointed out that the parking marshals were positioned closer to the main road “than would be ideal”. Saturday’s event this year though, showed that Royal Holloway had ignored that advice and positioned the marshals in the same locations and, once again, created the same problems.
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| Position of marshals in 2024 | Position of marshals in 2026 |
To add to the chaos this year, Royal Holloway also posted a temporary marshal beside the A30 and as you can see from the video clip below, drivers were stopping on the main carriageway to ask advice thereby holding up all through traffic.
Marshals trying to wave traffic past the main gate at certain times also created confusion for those that wanted to enter the campus: the second video clip below clearly shows this. This appears to have arisen because, once again, Royal Holloway organised their Open Day to take place on the same day as the hall vacation day. So, while some visitors needed to park for the Open Day, others needed to access the halls of residence to help students vacate their rooms.
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| Marshal positioned beside the main carriageway | Marshal causing confusion |
A local resident that saw the events on Saturday said “This is madness. It just seems to get worse every year and it won’t be long before there is an accident at those gates and someone’s injured.”
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| Near misses seen at the Royal Holloway Open Day |
University Provost Professor Tracy Bhamra was approached for a comment about Saturday’s traffic management problems but no response was received.