UK Winter Weather causes Chaos for transport links and thousands of schools
Pastor Dale Morgan
*UK Winter Weather causes Chaos for transport links and thousands of
schools*
• North-east and Scottish borders suffer heaviest snowfalls
• Up to 1,000 drivers stranded overnight in Hampshire
* Peter Walker, Steven Morris and agencies
* guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 6 January 2010 10.31 GMT
Thousands of schools were closed this morning as more thick snow
blanketed much of the UK, spreading overnight into the centre and south
of England and bringing serious disruption to road, air and rail services.
Some of the heaviest falls came again in the north-east of England and
the Scottish borders, with reports of up to 30cm (12in) falling since
early yesterday.
Further south, the Met Office recorded almost 25cm in parts of
Hampshire, with more snow set to fall around the south-east of England
over the course of the day.
Hampshire saw the worst disruption on the roads, with as many as 1,000
drivers stranded overnight in a huge traffic jam on the A3 near
Waterlooville. While some were evacuated to rescue centres, others spent
up to 14 hours in their vehicles and were still trapped this morning
despite efforts by the army to clear the route. Coastguards also helped
the rescue effort.
In parts of Gloucestershire, up to 25cm of snow fell, causing around 300
schools to be closed. A little further north, in Worcestershire, there
was over 20cm of snow.
In Wales, roads were closed in the valleys and motorists were told many
other routes were only just passable. Hundreds of schools were closed
across the country.
The Welsh ambulance service urged people to dial 999 only for real
emergencies. The South Wales, Dyfed Powys and Gwent police forces were
advising members of the public to make only essential journeys.
Around 300 schools were also closed in Devon and Cornwall, and many
local buses were cancelled, cutting off isolated communities. Schools
were shut in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Sussex, Wiltshire,
Somerset, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, Warrington and St Helens.
Flights were badly affected, with Gatwick airport's runway closed this
morning after more than 80 flight cancellations. Services into and out
of Exeter and Plymouth airports were suspended.
Bristol and Cardiff airports were closed for at least the first part of
the morning, though Birmingham airport was open. Stansted, Luton and
Southampton airports were also hit. Manchester and Liverpool were
struggling to return to full service after heavy snow forced them to
close yesterday.
Rail services were running more normally, although South West Trains and
Chiltern Railways said they were operating restricted timetables.
Transport in London – which ground to a near halt amid a snowfall in
February last year – was operating almost normally after the capital
received only a relatively light dusting, although more was forecast for
later in the day.
Forecasters say that the cold spell, which began in mid-December, is the
longest since 1981, and has no end in sight.
"I would normally be loth to look beyond five to seven days, but the way
the conditions are set at the moment I think the cold weather is not
going to change for some time," said Stephen Davenport, senior
meteorologist at MeteoGroup. "I will stick my neck out and say it will
be here for a couple of weeks and possibly longer."
If the freezing conditions continued for the rest of the month, he said,
the UK would be on course for its coldest winter since 1979.
Some local councils warned this morning that they are near to running
out of grit supplies to treat roads. West Berkshire council said it had
sufficient stocks for just one more coating on A and B roads, and was
urgently seeking new stock.