’BUSES WITHDRAWN.

Traffic became very difficult as the night advanced. ’Buses were gradually withdrawn from the routes, mainly because they could not leave the suburbs, and were standing in rows pith would-be passengers waiting for conditions Ito improve. Instead, they grew worse, and by eight o’clock scarcely a ’bus was running. Trams continued to struggle on through the murk, and relieved the pressure. Fleet-street was singularly silent – reminiscent, indeed, of air raid days and of a “take cover” warning. As an instance of the ’bus difficulty, it took thirty-five minutes for a vehicle to come from Brockley-rise to Ladywell – a distance of under two miles. All traffic was stopped in the East-end, except the tramcars, which moved through the fog at a very slow pace. Near Blackwall Tunnel it was so thick that the conductors walked in front of the cars waving lamps. In Barking-road a motor-car ran on to the pavement, many pedestrians having narrow escapes. At Lewisham the fire brigade were in difficulties. They were called out to Lansdowne-place, Brockley, where a fire had broken out in a motor garage, doing serious damage to a number of cars. On their way to the fire the Brigade’s motor pump engine collided with an L.C.C. tramcar in High-street. This resulted in delay, as the motor pump’s starting handle was smashed. The horses of the Salvage Corps van following had difficulty in getting up Blackheath-hill, and mounted the kerb. On being called out to second fire the brigade found it necessary to send an officer to walk in front of the motor with a flare. The fog was very dense all yesterday at Woolwich, especially in low-lying thoroughfares, and omnibuses on the Woolwich, Erith, and Crayford routes, which are mainly through country roads, were fitted with extra lamps, casting rays downwards and sideways, to enable the drivers to see the near kerb. Shortly before five o’clock a train of nine ’buses passed through Beresford-square at a snail’s pace, headed by a man walking with a lamp. Most of the ’buses on the Plumstead to London and the Abbey Wood to Croydon services ceased to run during the evening. The ferryboat service between North and South Woolwich was suspended all day. At Wokingham, where the fog has lasted for several days, many motor-cars and ’buses plying in the Thames Valley have run into roadside ditches.

A message from Cambridge says the town has been enveloped in a thick fog for two days. Traffic, especially on the river, has been baldly inconvenienced.