Up the Junction

Anyone who has driven to Reading will know that gaining access to the town from the M4 is nothing short of a nightmare. However, a two-year, £62.6 million road improvement scheme at the A33 (Junction 11) is set to transform traffic flow. Main contractor Laing O’Rourke has been charged with work on this junction and the construction of two new junctions on the M4. With such a massive civil engineering contract on their doorstep, Pirtek Reading Licensee Darren Squire visited the site to investigate how he could help in the fulfilment of the contract. Meeting with site supervisor, Paul Elliot, Darren was told that Laing O'Rourke and its plant company Select would only deal with approved companies, and that Pirtek would have to meet some very specific and strict criteria to become one of these companies. "Having no local contact and having to go through call centres is the bane of my life,” says Paul Elliot. "I stressed to Pirtek the need for personal contact, good local knowledge, and the ability to respond any call out at any hour. I was pleasantly surprised when Pirtek not only agreed but then offered to provide a dedicated engineer for the duration of this important contract.” Martin Mack (or Mac as he prefers to be known because there are a number of Martins at the Pirtek Reading Centre) became the dedicated MSST and has worked alongside Paul Elliot since the inception of the project. "Mac has worked on just about every bit of kit on the site, ranging from dumpers, compactors, excavators and generators. And he’s fixed them all.

I can contact Mac directly or through Pirtek Reading and describe the problem and he comes equipped with the right parts, and just puts it right without fuss.”

Motorists will be pleased to know that, thanks to Laing O’Rourke (with the support of Pirtek Reading) the new road scheme is well on target and that traffic flow has dramatically improved even before the completion of the scheme.