Thames Bridges and Tunnels Run

THE MG CAR CLUB’s MGF Register and Anglia Centre ‘Thames Bridges and Tunnels Run’ is over for another year!

Thanks to the efforts of committee members from both the Centre and Register, the event ran smoothly and proved to be another great success, with 62 cars taking part.

Here’s Adrian Clifford’s report:

Even with just 24 hours to go we had a potential problem as you may have seen on the TV, the whole of the Dartford Crossing was closed in both directions for a security alert. Vehicles were trapped for up to 9 hours on the bridge.

Then on the afternoon itself we were already aware of a march by the English Defence League in East London, it was proved to be true that it did not affect the event but it made it difficult and time consuming for cars getting to the start from the east.

We delayed the start a little due to late arrivals but this proved no real problem as the run went well, no traffic to report and all roads were open as planned. I’m pleased to report that many cars took advantage of the toilet and drinks stop in Canary Wharf allowing them all time to rest, talk and be at the Dartford Crossing after 22.00 to get the free crossings.

It was also very encouraging to see so many cars make it to Lakeside Services were the event finished.

There were three awards on the night where a framed certificate was awarded, they were :

Furthest travelled: Steinar Braaten from Norway in his MGB.
Best presented car: Linda Stock in her silver TF160.
Car of the night: Liz and Darren Allsworth in the MGCC/MacMillan Midget.

Of course many cars made navigational mistakes (you will not get a harder road run than London at night!) but many actually back-tracked to where they went wrong so as not to miss a mile, that was impressive, well done.

Well done to all you and a BIG thank you to everybody who made the journey, some driving from the Midlands, Lincolnshire, Lancashire and the south coast; without you the event would not mean a thing and the charity would not gain.

We made new friends, met new people and I hope it proved the value of being members of a great club.