FINAL BLAST OF HELL
BANK HOL IS BLIGHTED BY SNOW, RAIN & WIND
FOUR people died on the roads during an Easter Monday blighted by torrential rain, wind and snow.
Forecasters had warned of treacherous driving conditions before gusts of 50mph hit, along with 42mm of rain and 13cm of snow in just 24 hours.
The Environment Agency issued 206 flood alerts and 24 flood warnings, and many sporting fixtures had to be abandoned due to flooded pitches.
Two of the road fatalities were workers travelling home in the early hours of the bank holiday. Their motor was hit by a car driving in the wrong direction on the M62 near Bradford.
It is feared a 22-year-old at the wheel of a Vauxhall Insignia, who was arrested after failing a roadside breath test, had gone down the wrong slip road before entering the motorway.
His car collided head-on with a Skoda Octavia and police arrived to find Adam Afsar, 34, and Jason Wilby, 37, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, dead inside.
Adam, dad to a girl of seven and boy of 11, was on his first day of a new job and Jason had gone along for the ride.
Adam’s mum, Tish Peace, said the pair went everywhere together. She said she heard about the crash from Adam’s partner, Katie Town-Jones.
Tish added: “I’ve been to see Jason’s mum. She is what you would expect, she has lost her son.
“My son had just started the first day of his new job. Jason was his best friend and he was just going along for the ride because it was late at night. He’s not dead but he is closing his eyes until I can be with him. I will remember him for ever.”
Harris Pet Transport added: “We lost 1 of our drivers & his friend in the M62 accident. Our deepest condolences. We pray they rest in peace.”
The Insignia driver was arrested at the scene, near Bradford, and is being quizzed on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
In Surrey, a driver in his 20s was crushed to death when a BMW ploughed off the M25 at 2.40am. Four passengers in the car were also injured – two of them seriously – after it crashed into a tree.
And at 5.15am in Birmingham a man of 61 died in hospital after a lorry crash on the M5.
Meanwhile, a dramatic change in the weather is due later this week.
The Met Office’s Helen Roberts said: “It’s not going to be ‘scorchio’ but it’s going to be much better at the end of the week.
“If everything converges in the right way, maybe some 18 degrees. It will be increasingly mild.”
However, she warned Scotland and parts of northern England may face more rain and snow for a few days.
Four die on roads in treacherous conditions
Floods woe.. but mild weather system on way