Icy blast leaves Valley feeling under weather
SNOW and ice caused disruption and confusion last week, affecting school pupils, motorists and bin collections.
Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar School apologised after closing on Friday.
Some parents criticised the late notice with some students already being on their way to school when the announcement was received, with one labelling it “a shambles” and another “confusing and completely disorganised”.
A post on the Waterfoot school’s Facebook page shortly after 8.15am confirmed the closure was due to “the poor weather conditions on site.”
A follow-up message added: “We apologise for the late notice due to our text messaging system failing. We appreciate that many students will have been en route to school and that this will have been a stressful morning for many.
“We are sorry that our communication system did not function properly this morning.”
Rossendale council’s environmental services team advised that snow and ice was hampering safe access for some of its vehicles on rounds.
On their Facebook page, a spokesperson said: “If you leave your bins, boxes and bags out, we will attempt to collect again as soon as conditions on the ground permit safe access and egress for a 26-tonne LGV, by deploying additional resources. The crew will happily take a few bags extra. If they are recycling please can you label as appropriate either glass, cans & plastics or paper & cardboard.”
On Thursday morning, January 6 there was slow traffic on the A56 Northbound from the
M66 (Ramsbottom Junction, Ramsbottom) to A682 (Bent Gate Roundabout,
Haslingden).
By lunchtime Blackburn with Darwen Police reported that Grane Road had been closed in both directions due to bad weather conditions, and advised all vehicles to avoid the area where possible.
Lancashire County Council said their winter gritting teams had been very busy overnight Thursday into Friday with further treatments ongoing.
The forecast looks more settled for the next few days, with daytime temperatures around 5 degrees C well into next week.