Chaos as roads shut and bus services pulled

SOUTH Yorkshire ground to a halt yesterday, with roads closed, buses and trains cancelled and shops, schools and leisure facilities forced to shut.

Major routes including the Snake Pass, Woodhead Pass and Stocksbridge Bypass were closed while traffic came to a standstill on many roads that did remain open.

The A61 was closed at Tankersley for much of the morning, creating problems for those wanting to access the M1.

Drivers that did make it to the M1 were faced with long queues near Sheffield as heavy snow reduced the motorway to two lanes.

Commuters who decided to leave their cars at home faced a cold and slippery walk as the vast majority of bus services were cancelled.

Stagecoach pulled almost all its services and a skeleton service that continued to operate in Chesterfield was subject to lengthy delays.

All First South Yorkshire buses operating from the company’s depot in Sheffield were suspended, though a small number of services continued to run from the Rotherham base. Meanwhile, the Supertram in Sheffield was also subject to delays, running a service every 20 minutes rather than every 10 minutes.

Rail services were less badly affected, though trains between Barnsley and Penistone were suspended due to signalling problems.

In Sheffield city centre, stores on Fargate including WH Smith and River Island were shut due to the bad weather and a power cut. Castle Market also closed as did numerous sports centres including the Don Valley Stadium.

Although Meadowhall shopping centre was open as usual in the morning, it closed at 4pm – five hours earlier than usual.

In Rotherham 74 schools closed yesterday, as did 61 in Doncaster, 52 in Sheffield and 30 in Barnsley, where the council admitted it was running out of grit.

A spokesman for Barnsley Council said: “Although our stock levels are reducing rapidly, we are not yet in a critical position. We are currently experiencing a great strain on our resources.”

Bin collection services were also suspended across the county yesterday.

Firefighters, meanwhile, issued a fresh warning about the dangers of frozen lakes after the second dog in two weeks fell through the ice at a lake in Sandall Park, Doncaster. By the time crews got to the scene after the incident on Sunday the dog had been rescued by a passer-by.

A spokesman for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said: “Members of the public should not let their dogs off the lead while near frozen lakes and ponds and never go out onto the ice to rescue a pet which has fallen through.”

The snow also meant that Yorkshire Ambulance Service could only provide a restricted service yesterday and was unable to transport patients to hospital appointments.

A spokesman for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust said all affected patients would be contacted to rearrange their appointments as soon as possible.

He added: “Patients who have an appointment, procedure or admission to hospital planned for today are asked to contact the hospital before leaving home to check that they should still come.”