Worst weather of winter after eight inches of snow falls onto icy roads

Brian Dooks

CONDITIONS were the worst of the winter in North Yorkshire, with up to eight inches of snow falling on roads where temperatures fell to minus nine degrees overnight.

The situation was so bad that Harrogate and District Travel decided to take its buses off the road and the borough council’s team of seven gritters and five Transit low-loaders, whose crews have been working 12-hour shifts, concentrated on trying to keep main routes open.

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Some bus services resumed in the afternoon to places like Boroughbridge, but most were sticking to main roads and avoiding going into villages. No service ran to Pateley Bridge because of deep snow in Nidderdale.

In the morning rush hour a crane and bus came to a halt in slippery conditions on the A61 at the bottom of Almsford Bank on the southern approach to Harrogate and two gritters had to be sent to deal with the incident.

It was a similar picture in the York area where the Designer Outlet shopping centre at Fulford had to close. Buses in the city had to be re-routed and it was impossible for them to travel on some roads at the Monks Cross shopping centre.

There were long delays for drivers trying to get through Stamford Bridge to the east of York and at one stage traffic was queued for one and a half miles. Moorland routes in the Pickering and Scarborough areas were only passable with extreme care.

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The county council said 160 of its 362 schools were closed and some of those that did open sent pupils home early. Harrogate Council decided to close the market in Knaresborough today. A decision on Ripon’s Thursday market will be taken today.

Meanwhile North Yorkshire Police have warned drivers not to leave their vehicle unattended while they run the engine to defrost the windscreen. This follows the theft of vehicles in Thirsk and Littlethorpe, near Ripon, yesterday.

Police believe opportunist thieves took a red Ford Fiesta in Thirsk, which was last seen heading towards Busby Stoop at just after 8am. The vehicle stolen from Littlethorpe was a blue Isuzu Trooper. It was last seen heading towards Ripon at 10am.

A police spokesman said: “It appears that the thieves were driving around the area looking for opportunities to steal cars.”