Police directing traffic? What’s that?

Yesterday, an accident caused the M61 to be closed northbound between junction 6 and 8 (there is no junction 7). Not surprisingly, chaos ensued on the surrounding roads, including the A6 and A6027 and while that is to be expected, this was further compounded by the total lack of any police presence to direct traffic.
When was the last time you saw a police officer directing traffic? Do they still do this? Are they still trained to do this?

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