Thaw frees trapped drivers
Feb 4 2008 by Jule Wilson, The Journal
THE blizzards may be gone, but they are continuing to have knock-on effects in the region.
The main casualty of the weather has been today’s planned race meeting at Hexham which has been called off due to the course being waterlogged.
Head groundsman Mark Cameron said yesterday: “The snow is gone but parts of the course are too wet. It’s still unraceable.”
A major rescue operation was launched on the A66 outside Bowes, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, on Friday after 130 cars were abandoned due to deep snow and gale-force winds.
Many of those stranded took shelter at nearby Bowes pub The Unicorn, where they were looked after by bar manager Les Mitchell.
He said last night: “It wasn’t as bad as we had first expected and one of the east-bound roads affected was reopened fairly early, at about 5.30pm or 6pm.
“A lot of people were then able to get back to their cars and get back on their way, so we only had a couple of extra people staying that hadn’t already been booked in.”
And Sue Henley, secretary of Bowes Village Hall where many people also took shelter said the snow thawed as suddenly as it had arrived.
She said: “We actually closed the hall at about 9pm. By then most people had either been taken back to their vehicles or arranged places nearby to sleep.
“I think initially people had been a little shell-shocked as I don’t think people expect to see such sudden snowfall in this country.
“But once they’d been fed and got warmed up they seemed to take it on the chin. I think many who’d been travelling alone were quite relieved to finally be with other people.”
Simon Wilson, landlord at The Castle Hotel in Brough, Cumbria, took in a coach-load of 45 pensioners who had been travelling home to the North-East from Blackpool when they were forced to evacuate the vehicle.
He said: “They were actually only with us for about an hour because their tour company arranged for a local coach to pick them up and get them home via Carlisle and Newcastle on the A69... They all seemed in high spirits and we had a paramedic and ambulance crew standing by just in case.”
As well as the pensioners’ group, a coach-load of pupils from Newton Aycliffe’s St Francis C of E Junior School were caught up in the chaos near Alston, Cumbria, being forced to stay in an activity centre overnight.
The Met Office forecast for today is for sunny spells and scattered showers, a few heavy and wintry over the hills.
