Life is easy...  in the exclusive fast lane

The Games Lanes had been switched on for 30 minutes, parts of London were gridlocked and Twitter was alive with Olympics-inspired road rage.

Afghanistan veteran Col Richard Kemp reported “chaos” at 6.01am as he kept “an envious eye on an empty Zil lane” . Media lawyer Mark Stephens said Games buses were ignoring their reserved lanes and using those for general traffic. “Bugger off,” he tweeted in anger.

I was reading from the comfort of the Olympics media bus from Stratford to Bloomsbury, as it sped through the city thanks to the new 109-mile route network and 30 miles of “Zil” lanes reserved for games officials, athletes and journalists.

We swung out onto the free-flowing A12, and then the A13. The first queues started at Billingsgate fish market — but only for humble London motorists in the “slow lane”, not our accredited bus.

However, there was confusion along the route. Five electronic boards displayed a message instructing: “All traffic use Games Lanes” — but to no one’s surprise, blue signs fixed to roadside posts gave the conflicting message that the lanes were in operation from 6am to midnight.

It was not until we reached the Embankment, level with the Oxo Tower, that I spotted the first electronic sign saying Games lanes were now restricted to official vehicles only.

Normal traffic had crawled into central London, and was stacking up on the eastbound carriageway approaching the Tower of London, but we had sailed past, at Usain Bolt speed.

The trip was effortless and we arrived in Russell Square 33 minutes after setting off — about seven minutes ahead of schedule.

“That was our best journey and we travel on here all the time,” one 2012 contractor said. “I don’t normally thank the driver but that was great.”