Farmer on rescue mission highlights danger for motorists

A Fife farmer who helped rescue drivers stranded in deep drifts in the East Neuk on Thursday night has spoken of the atrocious conditions and revealed that he can “see how people could die” if caught out.

Mike Young, 37, of Lochton Farm, Crail, operates as an agricultural contractor helping to grit private car parks in Fife and Tayside.

On Thursday night, he and his fellow tractor drivers headed north from Anstruther and came across cars, and a gritter, which were stranded in fields on the Anstruther to St Andrews road.

Amid wild conditions, the cars were towed back to Anstruther and a colleague, who lives on a farm between Anstruther and Dunino, tried to access the gritter from the north before he also became stuck and had to be rescued.

But yesterday, as his team gritted the Fife Central Retail Park in Kirkcaldy, he told The Courier he could not believe how bad it was and continued to be.

“You can only describe it as like something out of a movie,” he said.

“As soon as you got out the cab, you realise you wouldn’t survive long in it – that’s for sure.

“The wind chill and the snow blowing off the fields: When we were getting out on Thursday night and putting on snow chains, you realise how people can get in trouble up a mountain.

“It was absolutely treacherous. You can see how you could get yourself into a bit of bother really quickly.”

The business, which developed as a sideline and has now taken over at the farm, does about 50 car parks all over Fife, Perth, Angus and Dundee.

But getting to those car parks is still dependent on the roads being cleared by council gritters, and sometimes even the tractors can’t get through.

With winds bearing down from the east, and snow subsequently drifting from the fields, not surprisingly it has been the north-south axis roads that have been affected most, Mike says.