First winter snowfall causes travel chaos

Dec 7 2011 by Andrea O'Neill, East Kilbride News

A YEAR to the day since East Kilbride was hit by a crippling snowstorm the town felt the effects of the first winter snowfall of 2011.

Six inches of snow fell overnight on Sunday, causing treacherous conditions for many motorists.

South Lanarkshire was one of the worst affected areas in the country, leading to the closure of 16 primary schools and a nursery on Monday. No East Kilbride schools were affected.

Further wintry showers into Monday night badly affected main trunk roads throughout the district yesterday (Tuesday), with icy stretches forming on untreated surfaces causing more travel disruption.

Scottish Transport Minister Keith Brown has urged the public to continue to exercise care.

Yesterday the Met Office issued yellow “be aware” severe weather warnings for large parts of Scotland for Thursday and Friday.

This has caused concern that the local authority will struggle to cope with another severe winter.

Arctic weather conditions brought travel misery to thousands of people on December 6, last year when the whole of Scotland ground to a standstill.

Rail services were abandoned while motorists were forced to leave their cars and walk home in bitterly cold conditions.

Many workers from East Kilbride were left with no option but to spend the night in their workplaces.

South Lanarkshire Council’s roads department told the News gritting staff had been out in force, battling the wintry conditions over three nights.

The council spent around £6million dealing with the effects of last year’s harsh winter.

This year they increased their salt stocks to 30,000 tonnes, having used 43,000 tonnes last winter and added seven new vehicles to their fleet.

The local authority said last week they were confident they would avoid a repeat of last year’s problems.

However, many East Kilbride residents have expressed concerns on our Facebook page about the council’s response to the recent cold snap.

Pamela Derin said: “Considering we've known for days the snow was coming I think the roads were a disgrace this morning (Monday). Really slippy and not gritted. Shame on SLC.”

Susan Kealy said: “Really disappointed in the lack of ploughed roads on the way to school. Wasn't expecting the side roads to be done, but the main roads and roundabouts are poor.”

Nancy Docherty said: “I live in Strathaven. Took me two-and-a-half hours to come from Stonehouse, roads were a nightmare ... found out a tanker had been stranded for two hours. No sign of a gritter.”

Erik Paterson said: “You ought to see Livingstone Drive in The Murray – not been gritted and cars are sliding all over the place – it's like dodgems!”

Darren Miller said: “Considering the PR blitz by the Scottish Government saying ‘we are totally prepared this time’... It appears it was just that, a PR blitz with no substance.”

However, Colin Cameron thinks the council have handled the blizzards well. He said: “Instead of moaning like a bunch of wee girls you could grab a shovel and clear your own path / street. The council are doing a good job of keeping the main roads clear ... despite the continual snowfall undoing all their work ... I bet if they did clear residential roads you would all complain it was a waste of taxpayers' money.”

A spokesman for South Lanarkshire Council said: “Our gritting staff have been out battling the wintry conditions over the past three nights.

“This has included patrolling, gritting and ploughing as and when required on our precautionary gritting routes, full details of which can be found on our website.

“Our service levels will be the same as last year (45 per cent of carriageways and five per cent of footways treated ahead of frost / snow).”