A41 reopens between Watford and Hemel Hempstead

A41 remains closed A41 remains closed

A section of the A41 between Watford and Hemel Hempstead has reopened, alleviating hours of gridlock in Kings Langley.

Police say they were called to section of dual carriageway north of the M25 at around 12.15pm due to concern for the welfare of a man on the road.

The road was subsequently closed in both directions with northbound traffic diverted through the centre of the village along Hempstead Road.

Road blocks were removed at 4.22pm.

A man in his 20s has been detained by the police.

Comments(9)

Harry H Hornet says...
5:34pm Mon 3 Sep 12

The police are useless they make no attempt whatsoever to get the traffic moving or alerting the public that there is a problem.

Too busy setting up mobile safety cameras.

Willow99 says...
10:35pm Mon 3 Sep 12

It took me 25 mins to get off slip road at 4pm. Would've been useful if signs said A41 closed it would've helped traffic! Seems a long time from 12.15 to close a road due to one man or maybe extenuating circumstances?

LSC says...
12:36am Tue 4 Sep 12

Harry H Hornet wrote:
The police are useless they make no attempt whatsoever to get the traffic moving or alerting the public that there is a problem.

Too busy setting up mobile safety cameras.
I agree. YOU should be the priority, not the incident itself.
So what if a man was running around with a machine gun? Why should you miss Eastenders when you weren't personally at risk?
I must say it is very comforting to know that if a member of your family was at risk you would be begging the police officers dealing with it to worry about traffic flow first.

Harry H Hornet says...
4:30am Tue 4 Sep 12

Missing the point completely. No effort whatsoever was made to warn motorist or divert traffic.

Toshhorn says...
10:15am Tue 4 Sep 12

Machine gun??? who said??
I thought it was some "at risk" bloke wandering around on the A41??
The police love making a drama out of nothing, good for the overtime you know.
Now if he was some sort of trouble maker (say right wing/left wing extremist)
he would have been taken down immediately

LSC says...
1:10pm Tue 4 Sep 12

Toshhorn wrote:
Machine gun??? who said??
I thought it was some "at risk" bloke wandering around on the A41??
The police love making a drama out of nothing, good for the overtime you know.
Now if he was some sort of trouble maker (say right wing/left wing extremist)
he would have been taken down immediately
I was being facetious. I turns out it was a man attempting to take his own life, and in the process might easily have caused the death of innocent motorists too.

In these situations time is a factor and confusion reigns. Should they have drafted in 100 extra police to divert traffic and then the man gives himself up in under a minute? Or might he have stayed on the bridge 10 hours?
Worst of all, he might have jumped in which case I expect the road would still be closed and appropriate diversions in place.

Harry H Hornet says...
3:55pm Tue 4 Sep 12

LSC wrote:
Toshhorn wrote: Machine gun??? who said?? I thought it was some "at risk" bloke wandering around on the A41?? The police love making a drama out of nothing, good for the overtime you know. Now if he was some sort of trouble maker (say right wing/left wing extremist) he would have been taken down immediately
I was being facetious. I turns out it was a man attempting to take his own life, and in the process might easily have caused the death of innocent motorists too. In these situations time is a factor and confusion reigns. Should they have drafted in 100 extra police to divert traffic and then the man gives himself up in under a minute? Or might he have stayed on the bridge 10 hours? Worst of all, he might have jumped in which case I expect the road would still be closed and appropriate diversions in place.
100 extra police was not necessary, a handful of traffic cops and turn off the traffic lights on the A41 - M25 roundabout would have had an impact on easing the congestion.

Not rocket science just common sense.

pr76uk says...
12:12pm Wed 5 Sep 12

Traffic matters on major roads are for the Tory County Council, not the police.

LSC says...
1:24pm Wed 5 Sep 12

Harry I apologise if I was somewhat caustic in my reply to you; Yes, I'm sure it could have been handled better. But these situations are always confused and fluid, and sometimes you just have to take it on the chin.

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