Big freeze causes 25 crashes in ONE hour

COMMUTERS across Scotland faced chaos on the roads yesterday as sub-zero temperatures caused a spate of rush- hour accidents.

Police dealt with 25 crashes in an hour as the mercury fell as low as -9.8C in some areas.

Rail passengers also faced delays as icicles built up on power lines, while temperatures at Glasgow Airport dropped to -9C.

Police Scotland had to urge drivers to slow down on icy roads due to a spate of accidents.

At 8am, the force posted on Twitter: ‘Road traffic collision reports are coming in fast this morning – 25 in the last hour.

‘Please remember that stopping distances can be up to ten times longer in icy conditions.’

On the M8 in Glasgow, traffic had to be rerouted to allow removal of icicles in an underpass at Charing Cross.

Strathallan airfield in Perthshire recorded the lowest temperature on Sunday night, at -9.8C.

ScotRail said icicles had affected Bellgrove Station in Glasgow and prevented trains from stopping at Johnstone Station in Renfrewshire.

A signalling fault at Dalmuir caused further disruption, while frozen points at Perth affected services from Edinburgh to Inverness and Glasgow to Aberdeen.

A ScotRail spokesman said: ‘Today’s cold snap has been challenging for the railway. We apologise to our customers who have been delayed today.’

The cold weather is expected to ease slightly this week. Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said: ‘Cloud cover should give Scotland

‘Challenging for the railway’

some insulation from very low temperatures.

‘Tuesday should see a little bit of a change for most places, except the north-west of Scotland which keeps the sunshine.

‘Things will turn milder. Winds will start to pick up, with rain moving into Scotland from the west on Tuesday evening.’ Ferry operator CalMac said a number of sailings would be disrupted today due to high winds.

The cold weather saw Scotland’s biggest ski centre welcome almost as many visitors in the first week of 2018 as the whole of 2017.

Glenshee Ski Centre in Aberdeenshire said more than 1,000 people had flocked to its six runs on Sunday.

Glasgow City Council said the freezing weather had led to a huge rise in pothole complaints.

It received 602 in the first week of this year, compared to only 162 in the same period last year.

A spokesman said: ‘Our roads have been affected by the prolonged spell of low temperatures.’