The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Sudden snows stuns Scots
HEAVY SNOW brought parts of Scotland’s transport network to a standstill late on Monday/early yesterday.
The M90 between Kinross and Dunfermline was one of the worst hit areas as traffic was brought to a halt by blizzards.
The Met Office said the snow had been blown in from the west of Scotland by an “unusual” south-westerly wind.
Several lorries became stuck on the motorway or jack-knifed as they struggled in the conditions.
One witness said he saw a row of around 10 lorries stuck while some drivers resorted to getting out of their cars and trying to push their vehicles.
He said: “It was carnage. A couple of miles on from Halbeath we came across a line of HGVs that had decided to stop altogether in the inside lane because the conditions were too dangerous.
“But the road was still open and we continued only to find dozens of cars and lorries struggling to make their way up the brae before the Knockhill turn-off.
“I was driving at a crawl but still found myself on opposite lock numerous times just to keep things in a straight line. Others weren’t so lucky and we came across an HGV jackknifed in the middle of the road.
“At one point, we even passed a stranded BMW where the driver had decided to get out and try to push his car up the hill whilst pumping the accelerator. The wheels were spinning but he had no control. It was quite a frightening experience.
“There were no signs of help immediately available so we just kept going.”
The road was fully reopened early yesterday but there were reports of more incidents on the road just before rush hour yesterday morning at the Kinross junction.
Roads in the west of Fife were also particularly badly affected, with most of the major routes covered in snow.
Away from Fife, there were also delays on the A9 southbound at the Broxden roundabout yesterday following a crash around 9.30am and, on the A9, a car span out of control and into the oncoming carriageway north of Laurencekirk. No one was injured in either incident.
Public transport also suffered because of the snow. A single-decker bus crashed into the wall of a front garden in Hill Street, Cowdenbeath, on Monday night.
A spokeswoman for Stagecoach East Scotland said: “One of our vehicles operating on service 19 at around 11.15pm on Monday collided with a wall on Hill Street, Cowdenbeath, due to poor road conditions.
“There were no passengers on board and our driver was uninjured.
“Safety is our absolute priority and we took the decision around this time to withdraw all our services due to many untreated roads in the area,” she added.
A number of schools and nurseries across Fife andTayside were closed because of the weather yesterday.