LEFT TO FREEZE FOR 13 HOURS
200 drivers trapped overnight in m74 snow Sturgeon and Yousaf are forced to apologies Police warn: 'Don't drive in amber alert
Traffic was brought to a standstill when a stretch of the M74 between Scotland and England became impassable on Tuesday night.
Police scrambled Moffat mountain rescue team to hand out food rations and water as more than 200 people had to sleep in their vehicles.
Last night, motorists hit out at the lack of information as they waited with no clue as to when they would be rescued or the road would reopen.
Their plight sparked a political row with both First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her Transport Minister Humza Yousaf issuing an apology.
It came as the Met Office issued an unprecedented amber warning of heavy snow for the second day in a row for most of the Central Belt, parts of Ayrshire and south-west Scotland. It was due to expire at 5am today.
Police took the unusual step of urging motorists not to travel overnight last night.
In a statement yesterday Mr Yousaf announced a Level 4 transport warning, Transport Scotland’s highest alert. This means travelling on the roads should be avoided, with severe delays expected.
He said: ‘I apologise to road users who were stuck on the M74 last night. It is not a situation anyone should have to experience and that is why we are taking steps to make sure we don’t face similar issues tonight.’
He added: ‘What we faced was extremely challenging weather that we actually haven’t seen in Scotland for a number of years – in the sense of the widespread nature of the snow, the persistence of it and even the depth of that snow.’
Mr Yousaf went on to claim that the Government would ‘learn lessons’ from what he described as the ‘very unpleasant experience’ of those who were forced to spend the night stuck in their cars.
On the plea not to travel, he added: ‘We don’t want people to travel during this period and put themselves and others at risk.’
Despite his apology Mr Yousaf has been heavily criticised after admitting he had been warned by the Met Office of the severe weather last week.
The M74 was reopened yesterday morning but abandoned lorries and cars could still be seen blocking the outside lanes as commuters battled to get by.
TV presenter Martel Maxwell, who hosts BBC One daytime auction show Homes Under the Hammer, took to social media to tell how she had to resort to driving ‘off road’ – on other untreated roads – to escape the queue after being stranded on the motorway for nine hours.
She eventually admitted defeat and spent the night in a hotel in Carlisle. She wrote on Instagram: ‘So, nine hours on the M74 yesterday. I’m so lucky. I think I would have had to spend the night there if I hadn’t taken a gamble and gone off road. Some people were there for 16 hours.’
Scott Drury, 28, from Eaglesham, Renfrewshire, posted a selfie of his ordeal before bunking down in his car while stuck in the outside lane overnight on Tuesday. He said the road should have been closed off or restricted earlier in the evening.
He also said: ‘Extra ploughs and speed restrictions should have been enforced to avoid or minimise this situation but it seems to have been overlooked.’
Kenneth Anderson spent nine hours stuck in a hire car with his fiancée Zoe and their pet dog. They arrived home in Glasgow at 5.30am yesterday after travelling from the London borough of Bromley, a journey of 18 hours.
Mr Anderson told Radio Five Live: ‘We were basically stuck on the M74 for about eight or nine hours. Completely motionless.
‘It was the volume of snow, the gritters hadn’t been out as far as we could tell. And it was all compacted by idiots driving on the hard shoulder preventing gritters and emergency vehicles from get-
ting where they needed to be, which just escalated the situation.
‘We had a packet of Haribo sweets and lots of juice but not much in the way of sustenance.
‘There wasn’t much in the way of communication. It’s a huge stretch of road and it was very frustrating not knowing what was happening.’
Last night, Miss Sturgeon apologised to drivers and claimed that the snow was falling faster than the gritters could react.
Addressing the hundreds who had spent the night on the M74, she said: ‘We are sorry for anyone that is in that position.’
The snow also caused problems elsewhere, with a 68-year-old woman having to be rescued by Coastguard helicopter after being stuck overnight in her car near the village of Straiton, Ayrshire.
In Airdrie, Lanarkshire, a runaway lorry was filmed crashing into a car and another vehicle before knocking over a lamp post. Fears were also growing for the safety of missing pensioner William Ritchie. The 90-year-old was last seen by neighbours near his home in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, on Friday.
Hundreds of Highland schools were closed yesterday, affecting 14,000 children. Every school in East Ayrshire was also shut.
More than a foot of snow was recorded in Eskdalemuir, Dumfriesshire, yesterday while Tulloch Bridge, Inverness-shire, as well as being the coldest spot during the day yesterday at -4C, saw 8in of snow, forecasters said.
The snow is forecast to continue into today for some parts of the country, with 2in to 4in in the West, leaving the East dry and sunny but cold, with temperatures down to -8C tonight.
The mercury is also set to fall further tomorrow as low as -11C by the early hours of Saturday. Superintendent Graeme Galloway from Police Scotland admitted emergency services were at ‘full stretch’.
He added: ‘An amber warning carries the advice to be prepared and as such I would ask members of the travelling public to first of all ask themselves the question about the necessity of their journey, and if they do need to travel.’
There were 154 gritters on the streets of Scotland last night to deal with the conditions.
Some councils are thought to have blown their allocated winter weather budgets. According to a document released by local authority umbrella group Cosla, at least five councils – including Highland and Aberdeenshire – are set to overspend after racking up extra costs during weeks of cold weather.
Cosla spokesman David Kennedy said: ‘Cuts to local government certainly don’t help the situation.’
‘Extremely challenging’