Snow causes commuter chaos

By County Press Reporter

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

An abandoned car on Parkhurst Road, Newport.

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DEEP snow has brought the Island to a grinding halt this morning (Wednesday).

Southern Vectis and Wight Bus have suspended all services and only East Cowes Primary School remains open. 

All other schools, the IW College and Platform One are closed.

Around 40 bus passengers spent the night sleeping on the floor at Newport Bus Station after being stranded when services were cancelled amid chaos on the roads.

Drivers also spent hours trying to negotiate Wootton High Street, where a Morrisons lorry became stuck on the hill.

Most abandoned their cars and either walked or took shelter at the community centre, manned by volunteers.

Sustained, heavy snowfall caused major traffic delays across the Island last night despite all possible precautions being put into place by the IW Council.

This morning many roads were impassable, including the Middle Road where trees had fallen, Main Road, Havenstreet, Cowleaze Hill, Shanklin, and both Yarmouth Road and East Cowes Road where dozens of cars had been abandoned.

There was a car blocking the road in Whippingham and roads in Shalfleet and Calbourne became impassable.

One Porchfield resident described the rural roads as "very dangerous."

The council made two gritting runs in a 12 hour period but, because gritting is designed to prevent highways from icing up rather than preventing snow accumulating, hundreds of motorists experienced major delays throughout the evening because of the particularly severe snowfall.

Peter Hayward, head of highways, said: "Precautionary gritting of the Island's primary road network was undertaken this morning giving high levels of residual salt on road surfaces in advance of the predicted snowfall.

"Our fleet of six gritting vehicles was sent on a further run at 5.30pm just as the snowfall started to ensure the best possible protection for the primary road network.

"Whilst gritting/salting does reduce the freezing temperature of the road surface and will prevent icing in all but the most severe conditions, it does not prevent snow from laying in severe conditions such as these.

"As a result, the precautions have not — and never would — prevent some severe problems given the heavy snowfall particularly in the north and west of the Island.

"Our gritting fleet is supplemented with six snow plough attachments to help in such conditions although these are only effective where snow accumulation reaches more than a couple of inches. These will be deployed on those primary routes as conditions require.

"Driving conditions are difficult across the Island and particular care should be taken, particularly on untreated, minor roads. As previously stated, people should avoid travelling unless absolutely necessary to do so while these conditions remain and should stay tuned to local media for updates."

• Up to the minute information on any school closures will be made available on the council's website www.iwight.com.

• The council has urged the owners of abandoned cars not to move them until it is safe to do so. It has said it will take a sensible and reasonable approach to cars that have been abandoned in restricted areas.