The day I battled through snow to save plough crew

A retired railway fitter has described going to the rescue of colleagues stranded in a snowdrift during the harsh conditions of January 1987.

Pete Law, 79, of Bramble Lane in Wye, was working at the Chart Leacon works in Ashford at the time of the heavy snowfall.

Mr Law had to hitch a lift to work on board a locomotive as the roads to Ashford were blocked, and when he arrived he was the only one who had made it for his late shift from 2pm to 10pm on Saturday, January 17.

While children enjoyed sledding, he was called upon to wade out into the snow after learning that a group of men operating a snow plough were stranded near Charing.

He said: “I took the fourwheel drive lorry and got to the Drover’s roundabout where police had set up a roadblock on the A20 to stop traffic going through.

“I told them I had to go out to find the group on the snow plough.

“They just said to me, ‘Well, best of luck’, and let me through.”

Mr Law, a widower and grandfather of four, had volunteered to service the snow plough in the autumn of 1986, and admits he had no idea how bad the winter would get.

He said: “We had had three days of snow, and the train crew supervisor had asked me if I could rescue his crew operating the snow plough.

“When I arrived at Charing, I could see their torches flashing in the distance.

“They walked across the field to get to me and they were absolutely exhausted.”

During the blizzard train services were cancelled, and archive footage appears to show the crew working to overcome snowdrifts as deep as the trains itself, with onlookers watching from a nearby bridge.

After his shift, he got a lift as far as Kempe’s Corner, but had to trudge the rest of the distance home on foot as the roads were impassable.

Mr Law added: “When I got home, my wife asked me why I was late, all I could say was, ‘It’s been one of them days’.

“So when I saw the articles about the snow in 1987 it brought back all the memories of that day.”

RESCUE: Pete Law