'Lives put at risk' after smart motorway staff lost control of signs for nearly two hours

Key safety technology failed on motorways across Greater Manchester and the north west on a busy Saturday afternoon, it's been revealed. A whistleblower claimed motorists' lives were put at risk as a result, but National Highways bosses said 'well-rehearsed procedures' were put in place and no emergency incidents were reported during the outage.

A second, separate incident also led to the loss of radar technology called 'stopped vehicle detection' along an eight-mile 'smart motorway' stretch of the busy M6 in Cheshire, but that was caused by a localised power outage, the Manchester Evening News can reveal.

National Highways said it 'temporarily lost the ability' to set motorway signs and signals in Greater Manchester and across the region at 12.35pm last Saturday, February 11, revealing an 'issue with roadside technology' that lasted short of two hours. The outage also affected the motorway network in Yorkshire and the North East, the Midlands and the South West.

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"This was resolved after one hour and 45 minutes," said National Highways in a statement. "All signs that were already set, stayed on, and we took additional measures including increased patrols by traffic officers. There were no reported incidents during this time and there was no loss of Stopped Vehicle Detection or CCTV."

The second issue was reported just after rush-hour on Monday of this week, between junctions 18 and 19 of the M6, Middlewich and Holmes Chapel to the M56 motorway.

That led to the loss of the stopped vehicle detection system, and the setting of warning signs and signals, for an hour and 45 minutes from 10.15am.

The radar technology, installed last year, enables stationary cars, vans and HGVs, or accidents, to be detected within