LAST Friday I used the Redbridge park-and-ride into Oxford and back.

The time was 1.20pm. I joined the Southern Bypass heading north and spent a pleasant time thinking, as I observed the stationary traffic, how delighted the new government in Libya must be at the prospective sales of oil to supply petrol to all these vehicles sitting with engines running. I also commiserated with the poor old polar bears moaning because the greenhouse gases being emitted were helping rapidly to decrease their habitat.

I decided to leave said bypass and join the southbound carriageway with the intention of travelling over Donnington Bridge Road along Iffley Road, up Divinity Road, down through Marston and home to Bicester, gateway to the east and home.

I first noted with interest that Southern Electric roadworks department had erected a mobile stand on the corner of Magdalen Road and proceeded with caution past them along the road. I could not help but notice the high preponderance of white-clad males dressed in what I supposed can be said to be Arabic national dress and rightly surmised, as it became apparent, that prayers had finished at the local mosques.

I could not help but also think that if the other churches had such attendance and adherence to their respective churches, perhaps things might not have been as bad on the nights of the riots, as surely the participants may have been trained differently in how to treat other people and their property.

I drove into Cowley Road heading towards Divinity Road. Horrors, that road was closed. No previous warning had been displayed and therefore I was committed to travel further along the Cowley Road towards perhaps Jeune Street or Princes Street.

Having again spent a long period of time sitting in stationary traffic, commiserating inwardly with a young lady who was having a driving lesson in how to sit in a traffic jam; I found that all the aforementioned roads were also closed.

Who makes the decision to shut off so many roads at one time? Is the problem put into a nursery school for the under fives to play with and then a result decided from that? Surely no adult made such a decision.

Just to be completely sure they would cause complete gridlock, the council had also decided to close many of the roads on the south side of Cowley Road.

So after 27 minutes’ travel along the Cowley Road to play Russian roulette at The Plain roundabout with other disgruntled motorists trying to get home before Christmas was upon us, I travelled at almost breathtaking speed (20 mph) along St Clement’s into Marston and home across Otmoor for a well-deserved cup of tea.

Incidentally, when I was travelling quite steadily towards Kennington along the Western and Southern bypasses earlier I was lucky enough to become a ringside observer of the British over 20-40 ton GP which was being contested by German, Spanish and English drivers in a race to the South Coast presumably.

What a lovely way to spend a day. Perhaps I should thank Thames Valley police for not adding to the vehicular numbers, as at no time did I note any Roads Policing Units patrolling the roads.

Chris Payne, Turnpike Road, Bicester