Bad judgement worsens weather chaos on roads

Strong winds, which reached more than 60mph at Bramham and Emley Moor, forced the closure of some of the region’s key roads, with the Humber Bridge shut in both directions for most of the afternoon after a lorry overturned.

The Ouse Bridge on the M62 was also shut to traffic.

Humberside Police last night said both of those closures were caused by drivers not adhering to directives to not drive high-sided vehicles on the bridges.

Barry Gardner, roads casualty reducation officer at Humberside Police, said: “Hundreds, if not thousands, of drivers on the A15, A63, M62 and A614 have been inconvenienced today by people not following instructions on the bridges.”

In Leeds, routes around Bridgewater Place were shut and were expected to reopen for high-sided vehicles at 3am today.

Rail journeys on the East Coast main line between Yorkshire, London and Scotland were disrupted and some flights were cancelled at Leeds Bradford Airport.

In Birmingham, a man was cut free from his car after a toppled tree left him with a serious head injury, while a couple in Greater Manchester escaped unhurt when a tree fell on their home. Met Office forecaster Kirk Waite said the Easter weekend would be breezy to begin with but conditions should “gradually quieten down”.