To think we should have prepared for the weather better?

[TiredofTelford]

DB stuck in car on M8 since noon yesterday. No sign of gritters, snow ploughs, just one Police 4x4 and the radio stations saying they are getting no info from Police or Councils about plans to clear the road. The fast lane is under two foot of snow. DB said he heard a woman call into the radio station who was stuck with a 3 year old and 8 month old which must be a nightmare. I'm sure we were warned that this winter was going to be bad so why has it caught us on the hop again?

Blimey, that sounds awful. Is there any idea of when they/he will be rescued?

Not a word, his boss was trying to find out and was getting told the road was cleared, so I suppose everyone just fancied staying put then?

Felt so sorry for the lady with 2dc's in the car. If she's lucky she could bf the baby but what can you do if you run out of food and drink for the 3 year old. I think someone (Police, Council, Army) should have been out and about checking for people like her stuck on the motorway. Even if they couldn't move her they could have supplied food and water. Really for her.

I do feel very sorry for people trapped in cars DH was on the road for 7 1/2 hours last night, and I was stuck for 3hours earlier on.

I think the problem was that the snow (here, anyway) fell very fast and dumped about 8" in the space of a few hours, so that many people were already on the road (like me!) and caught on the hop. Traffic quickly became gridlocked, and the gritters/ snowploughs couldn't get anywhere. Our road was gritted on Sat night, but didn't stop it becoming completely impassable by yresterday morning. The depth of snow really meant snowploughs were needed first, but like I say, too much traffic meant they couldn't get through

Dh WAS offered a cup of coffee by a kind soul while trapped in his car last night, and he helped a good few people get their cars moving (where there was actually room for movement!), including a woman who was 8mths pregnant

Snow fell fast in Scotland too but there didn't seem to be any attempt to address it. Centre of Glasgow was a nightmare too despite the volume of traffic - cars sliding everywhere.

God, what awful stories.

You are dead right - even though the snow in Scotland may have been worse than forecasters were expecting, we should have some sort of emergency provision for those situations. No-one should have to be trapped in their car for 12 - 24 hours. Especially not pregnant women and those with small children / babies.

Tired, how did your DH keep warm? Did he have blankets with him or anything?

I just keep thinking that my friends who live in a teeny tiny hamlet half-way up a mountain in the alps get a snow plough through twice a day, despite their single-track road leading nowhere and only serving 10 or so houses.
Surely we could have some emergency snow-ploughs stationed at places around the country to be used as necessary?

Just went on BBC and saw quote which is pretty much word for word what my DB said, but from a trucker "He said: "The roads were treacherous, no signs of any gritters, no communication from any sort of authority figure, I saw one police car and that was it. There seems to have been nothing throughout the day as a way of communication for people."

There were about 40 people stuck in the main bus station, including a young baby - surely someone should have stepped in and made sure young/ vulnerable were put up in a bnb or hotel instead of sleeping in a bus station!

My DB was warm as he kept his engine running, but was down to his last three cough sweets by 7:30 last night (he was saving one of them for breakfast!)

Bigtilly, I don't know why we don't have the organisation - maybe it's linked to the fact the Swiss can get their trains to run on time too!

We are going to have to get this sorted if the cold winter trend continues.

cough sweets for breakfast!