Watch: How hard can it be to find your way from Sedgley to Wolverhampton railway station?
Watch: How hard can it be to find your way from Sedgley to Wolverhampton railway station? We take on challenge after reader claims over 'little signage'
Transcript
00:00 Hello, I'm James McMirovich and I'm about to take on a reader's challenge. I explain,
00:05 we had a letter sent to us recently from a gentleman who said that if you didn't know
00:08 how to drive from Sedgley to so-called Wolverhampton Railway Station, it was virtually impossible
00:14 because there's no signs. Now, I know the route from Sedgley to Wolverhampton Railway
00:19 Station, I've done the route quite regularly in the past. So what I'm going to do is drive
00:23 down there. We're sat in my car right now and the camera's going to follow the route
00:27 from here in Sedgley all the way to Wolverhampton Railway Station. And we'll see how many signs
00:31 there actually are on the way there. Following that, if you'd like to comment, if you'd like
00:36 to tell us what you think about the route, whether it's signed well or not, please let
00:40 us know in the comments below. Let's go from there and let's see how it goes. As you can
00:45 see, as you head to the top of town, there's a sign that says Wolverhampton, three miles.
00:50 So very clearly from the centre of Sedgley, you can tell you which way it is towards Sedgley,
00:56 from Sedgley to Wolverhampton. So let's follow the route now. We'll take it out of Sedgley
01:00 and we'll follow down the A459 towards Wolverhampton city centre. Again, you can see there, sign
01:12 for Wolverhampton, three miles. At the moment, no signs for Wolverhampton Railway Station
01:17 yet, but we're not really into Wolverhampton as it is. So let's just follow this road down
01:22 and we'll see where it goes. Here on your left, the city of Wolverhampton welcomes you.
01:40 At the moment, not the city of Wolverhampton Railway Station, but at least we know we're
01:44 in Wolverhampton now. Of course, if we drive up, you can see on the left that sign there
01:59 that says city centre straight ahead, Pen Y Mbun to your right or Ettingshaw and Bilston
02:03 to your right. Obviously, what we're going to do is go straight on because we're heading
02:06 towards Wolverhampton city centre. That's where the railway station is located just
02:11 to the outskirts of it. So let's wait for these lights and then let's head from there.
02:21 What this road does now is take you through the Blakenell district of Wolverhampton. It's
02:25 a straight road all the way through to the city centre. It leads up to the point where
02:30 our reader did say that the directions become a bit more indistinct. So let's take you through
02:35 Blakenell and we'll get you to the point where, as I said, things were a little bit more indistinct
02:40 in terms of directions. What our reader complained about on the route was this section here.
03:07 He said that there was no clear indication which way the railway station actually was.
03:13 There's two lanes to the left, two lanes to the right and you can see the roads on Grove
03:17 Street over there. Traffic is feeding in from the two lanes up there. So it is kind of hard
03:22 to see at this point which way you would go if you didn't know Wolverhampton, sorry, if
03:27 you didn't know how to get in. Traffic feeds in from this lane. It's obviously feeding
03:34 in from the right as well. There's a few cars coming down and around. There's space right
03:39 now for the traffic in front of me to go and you wouldn't actually be able to tell at this
03:44 point which way the railway station is. There's a Snowhill Junction up there, so City Centre
03:48 straight on, Ring Road to Kidderminster, Stabridge and Whitchurch and then Walsall, West Blomwich
03:54 and Stafford. There is actually no indication which way the railway station is heading into
04:00 Wolverhampton. I know it's this lane because City Centre follows to the right but you don't
04:06 actually see any signs for the railway station around here. If you were following in, what
04:16 you would do is get in the right hand section of lanes and then you would get into the right
04:19 hand drift here. Then obviously wait for the lights or go to the lights as appropriate
04:25 and head down to the right but the reader is right. There isn't actually a clear sign
04:29 that says which way the railway station is, I believe until you get to the lights. We'll
04:33 check when we get to the lights. So as you head up to the lights, there's still no real
04:40 indication which way the railway station is. Although you do finally see a station sign
04:45 right in front of us there. The sign's not distinct but the familiar National Railway
04:50 sign does show to say that Wolverhampton station is this way. That's like the first indication
04:54 when you get to the Wolverhampton Ring Road, which way you're going. This road follows
04:58 down past where the old Sainsbury's building used to be. You've got the YMCA and several
05:02 car dealerships on your right. You have to work out when you get to the lights down here
05:07 which way you're going. There is a sign up here on the left that says "Will and Ulthrey
05:11 station to the right". At this point you've got to work out which lane you're getting
05:15 into. You would stay in the middle lane here which says A454. Again, this is knowledge
05:22 of being in Wolverhampton and knowing that. The reader may not have known that as he was
05:26 heading down but you do see the Novotel over there. You see the Crown Court to your left.
05:32 What you would want to do at this point is turn right. I think what our reader did was
05:36 he went round the roundabout and he went straight on heading down under the railway bridge which
05:40 is where the old entrance to the railway station used to be. We'll see what happens after we
05:46 get past these lights as to what the signage is.
05:49 There is a sign there that says "Station to your right". You're able to work out which
05:57 way you're going towards the station. Follow the lights here. There's a sign over there
06:01 that says "Station". There's another one on the big side to the right. There's two that
06:04 indicate that. Follow this road around and you'll see another sign just coming up at
06:11 these lights that say "Station to your left". You'll be able to follow into the left-hand
06:16 drift here. It takes you around. Watch for the traffic on the right. And then a little
06:24 sign that says "Station". Get to the lights and a little sign up there that says "Station
06:29 to your right".
06:30 So while you do have a few signs after a certain point, it's only when you get to what happens
06:37 at the roundabout that you work out which way the railway station is. I would agree
06:41 with what the reader said. I think there needs to be a sign sort of further back in Blake
06:46 in order to say "This way towards Wolverhampton Railway Station". These lights, you can see
06:51 no entrance there. This is where the traffic is coming in. To your right is where Wolverhampton
06:55 Railway Station is. Follow the lights. You can see another little sign up there that
07:03 says "Railway Station". Follow around here and right over there you can see the big car
07:09 park, the other car park just there. And a little railway sign that says "Free 20 minutes
07:14 parking". So you know that where you are going is in fact Wolverhampton Railway Station.
07:19 There's a train coming in from Birmingham New Street. You've got automatic number plate
07:23 recognition at this station which indicates that as we turn around the corner here, you've
07:27 arrived at Wolverhampton Railway Station. So this is the full route from Sedgley to
07:36 Wolverhampton Railway Station.
07:39 Right, I'm here at Wolverhampton Railway Station. Here's the summary of the journey. About three
07:44 and a half miles from Sedgley to Wolverhampton Railway Station and about 15 minutes allowing
07:49 for traffic. In terms of the journey down, the road from Sedgley to Wolverhampton is
07:53 a fairly simple one. It's the A459 heading all the way down through Blake and all. I
07:57 will agree with the reader that once you get to that section where you're either turning
08:02 left onto the roundabout or right onto the roundabout, there isn't actually a sign that
08:05 says which way to the railway station. However, when you hit Wolverhampton Ring Road, it very
08:11 clearly indicates which way you can go to the railway station. I'd like to hear what
08:16 you think. Please comment below if you'd like to tell me whether it's easy to get to Wolverhampton
08:20 Railway Station from Sedgley or not.