Red weather warning Scotland: Hundreds of drivers stranded on M80 as heavy snow causes chaos

Drivers were stranded on the motorway for hours on Wednesday amid extreme conditions
PA
Tom Powell1 March 2018

Hundreds of drivers were left stranded on a Scottish motorway for hours after extreme snowfall on Wednesday.

Traffic ground to a halt on the M80 when heavy snow hit, with forecasters issuing the highest level warning for parts of central Scotland.

Motorists were prepared for a night inside their vehicles and it was not until around 1.30am that traffic began moving "slowly" in both directions, although conditions remained difficult.

There were reports of people living nearby walking up and down the lines of traffic, offering drinks and food.

One driver Graeme Murray left Aberdeen at 2.45pm with his daughter Ella, 16, who was hoping to catch a flight to Dublin from Glasgow for an under-17s netball competition.

Speaking at around 10pm, the 49-year-old legal commercial director said: "Everything was going well until just after Gleneagles, then we hit the traffic jam at 5.05pm and have been here ever since.

"We have no idea what's happening, we're just getting messages from home.

"I think we're going to get ready to spend the night here."

Police Scotland tweeted advice to avoid the route, while also telling people not to abandon their vehicles.

Emergency vehicles manoeuvre past stationary traffic on the M80 near Glasgow
PA

Other major roads also faced disruption, with the M74 being reduced to one lane heading north and south late on Wednesday.

Mountain rescue teams were drafted in to help emergency services deal with the overnight operation.

Met Office forecasters issued alerts across most of Scotland, with the highest level warning continuing until 10am on Thursday in central regions.

The highest level of weather warning has been issued for Scotland
PA

It is the first red alert for snow in Scotland since a new warning system came into place in 2011.

The definition of such a warning is "you should take action now to keep yourself and others safe from the impact of the weather" and it cautions that widespread damage, disruption and risk to life is likely.

Forecasters warned that lying snow could reach 40cm in a few places by mid-morning.

Lower alerts for snow and ice will continue to cover much of the country throughout the day.

Councils up and down the country have decided to close schools on Thursday due to the weather.

Major Scottish airports saw many flights cancelled, including Glasgow which halted all routes until 11am on Thursday.

February 2018: London Snow - In pictures

1/20

However, British Red Cross emergency response volunteers were at the airport supplying bedding for up to 100 people in case they were stranded overnight.

The extreme whether has also seen NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde cancel all non-essential operations and outpatient appointments on Thursday.

Virgin Trains has closed all its routes to and from Scotland throughout the day, while ScotRail halted all operations in the affected red area until late morning.

Bus operators in central regions also reported there would likely be disruptions continuing on Thursday.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT