More misery is on the way
Beast from the East isn’t finished with Renfrewshire
craig.craig.ritchie@ritchie@trinitymirror.trinitymirror.comcom Advertising Advertising lynsey.gair@trinitymirror.com 07393lynsey.gair@762401trinitymirror.com 07393 762401 kirsteen.brown@trinitymirror.com 0141kirsteen.309brown@4312trinitymirror.com 0141 309 4312 The Beast from the East is not finished with Renfrewshire just yet.
Bl i s t e r i n g b l i z z a rds, plummeting temperatures and powerful icy winds are continuing to plough t h rough the whole of Renfrewshire, bringing it to a standstill.
The Arctic blast’s arrival on Wednesday brought scenes of traffic chaos – and Paisley has been like a ghost town.
Surrounding towns and villages have also been frozen out as the wintry conditions shut down the whole region.
With conditions too dangerous for travelling, R e n f re w s h i re Council announced that all schools and nurseries will remain closed.
A spokesman for Renfrewshire Council told the Paisley Daily Express: “The current amber weather warning for Renfrewshire has been extended until 10am today and conditions will remain very challenging.
“As a result, we have decided to keep all Renfrewshire schools and nurseries closed.”
All sports and leisure facilities are closed as well as the libraries, Paisley Museum, community centres and town halls.
Decisions on whether events taking place in any of these facilities tonight should go ahead will be taken today.
Joyce McKellar, chief executive of Renfrewshire Leisure, said: “We’d like to thank our staff and our customers for their patience and understanding during this unusually-severe weather.
“Indications are that our facilities should re- open on Saturday.
“However, I would ask that customers check our social media channels to confirm facilities opening again.”
Police Scotland are still urging Renfrewshire residents to avoid travelling unless necessary.
Superintendent Helen Harrison, who is coordinating the multi- agency response to the weather, said: “We continue to deal with a number of challenging incidents and the response from our officers, staff and those of our partner agencies has been outstanding.
“We are not complacent though and we will continue to monitor the situation closely in order to keep people as safe as possible.
“Our advice has not changed –m avoid travel in the affected areas and keep a close eye on Met Office updates and from the authorities across Scotland.
“We are continuing to run a multi-agency command centre to coordinate the emergency response.
“The advice remains the same – if you can postpone your journey in affected areas until after the amber warning ceases I would urge you to do so.
“We’d ask employers to continue to allow staff to work flexibly.”
A spokesman for Glasgow Airport told the Express: “Our teams are continuing with snow clearing operations, however, we would advise anyone with travel plans should contact their airline directly for specific flight information.”
First Bus services also remain subject to change as bosses assess road conditions.
Care home and social work services will continue to operate in Renfrewshire to the best of the ability of staff and volunteers.
Bin collections have been postponed to their next scheduled date.
The council spokesman added: “Our roads staff have been out all night working to keep things moving.
“Snow ploughs are out clearing the roads alongside our gritting teams and they will continue to work overnight to tackle severe weather, which is unprecedented.
“We are sure you appreciate we cannot get to every street and have to focus our resources on the main roads.
“Please also bear in mind the heavy snowfall can affect the gritting process.
“Please only travel if completely necessary during the Amber weather warning and continue to follow the advice of the emergency services.”
Express readers should check @ metofficescot for weather updates and @policesscotland and Traffic Scotland for the latest travel information.
For some spectacular snow pictures taken by our reaers, turn to page 17.