President Barack Obama Contributes to A303 Road Chaos

As I write, it seems that President Barack Obama is gracing Wiltshire with his presence.  Unfortunately, the President of the US and leader of the free world as he may well be, has been contributing to traffic chaos on the A303 for most of the afternoon.

Having flown in to Boscombe Down earlier, his motorcade went north across the blocked A303, up to Larkhill and then approached the Stonehenge visitor's centre from the Bustard crossroads.  So, he's officially a rat runner and (with tongue firmly in cheek) I expect that STAG will be making representations to the White House about such bad behaviour.

We wonder if he had pre-booked his visit to Stonehenge, as he's certainly not a local resident and whether he paid the usual extortionate entrance charge.  We think perhaps not. 

Of course, the serious point is that the A303 isn't fit for your average motorist, let alone for President Obama.

UPDATE

Although he wasn't allowed to drive along the A303,  President Obama appears to have flown alongside it as he left Boscombe Down this evening, with what appeared to be Marine One flying directly over Winterbourne Stoke and the rest of his entourage flying slightly to the south of the village.

 Most notable were the lead group of 3 Bell-Boeing V22 Osprey's (aka "The Widowmaker").  These were possibly from the 7th Special Operations Squadron, 352d Special Operations Group from RAF Mildenhall.  So from causing jams on the A303, the president managed to trump that by causing a veritable traffic jam above it.  Click to enlarge and see just how many helicopters were involved!