Flights missed and jobs lost because of closure

Motorists were stuck in 10-mile queues during the Forth Road Bridge closure yesterday.

Flights were missed, people struggled to get to work and some were stranded in their vehicles as a result of an overturned lorry on the bridge.

One Dundee couple missed their flight to London as a result of the disruption.

Gillian Gordon and her husband John were on their way to London to celebrate his 50th birthday, but three hours after setting off from Dundee, they were still stuck in traffic.

“We left Dundee at 7.30am this morning, as we were due to fly to London from Edinburgh on the 10.45am flight,” said Mrs Gordon.

“We tried to go by Kinross to the Kincardine bridge, but we hit traffic.

“It took us around an hour to travel about 500 metres.”

She added that the airline managed to change their flight at no extra cost.

It is understood tailbacks on some routes reached up to 10 miles.

Alloa commuter Charlene Wilson, who travels by car to her workplace in Glenrothes, described the situation as “carmageddon”.

She said: “It took me 45 minutes to get between Alloa and Gartarry roundabout leading into Fife – a route that normally takes just five minutes.

“Then another 10 minutes at the roundabout to get onto any of the connecting roads – total gridlock.

“I could see over to Clackmannanshire Bridge and all traffic was at a total standstill.”

Mrs Wilson said traffic heading towards Kinross on the A977 was slow moving.

However traffic going the other way was not making any progress.

“Tailbacks looked about seven miles long,” she said.

“A lot of very angry looking motorists.”

The closure had a potentially life changing impact for one Dunfermlinebased student.

Robert Parker, 30, was supposed to be in London on Wednesday for an interview with pharmaceuticals giant GSK, but he got stuck in traffic on his way to the airport and missed his flight.

Mr Parker, who is a postgraduate student at Edinburgh Napier University, had reached the final stages of the selection process but said it was unlikely he would get another chance to try for the job.