There are two things that occur with annoying regularity in Scotland: the first is some inane politician going on about the effects of “global warming”and and the other is absolute chaos on major motorways when we get snow.
Of course the two are clearly related. Because by constantly repeating the kind of lie from 2000 that “soon kids won’t know what snow”, government agencies take the politicians at their word and plan for no snow.
The M8o is one of the busiest motorways in Scotland. I know it well as I regularly travel on it and for example was last on it just last night. It takes traffic from Glasgow (and England) to Stirling and onward to Perth, Inverness, Dundee and Aberdeen. In other words it links almost every major city apart from the one where our gormless politicians sit in Edinburgh – so no problems for them!
This follows a similar disaster in 2010 when:
A 20-mile stretch of the M8 motorway has reopened after being closed for 48 hours due to snow and ice. Scotland’s busiest road had been closed westbound between the outskirts of Edinburgh and Shotts in North Lanarkshire since Monday afternoon.
Yes you’ve got it! Scotland’s busiest motorway a mere 50 miles from Glasgow to Edinburgh was closed, not for a few hours but for TWO DAYS. And people were stranded in their cars for up to eight hours.
And the police were so incompetent, that they would not let people walk a few hundred yards to a service station for food, drinks, and toilets. In other words motorists were treated like cattle.
Absolute chaos on the M80 today standstill for 2.5 hours now they have closed the road completely no money made today then #glasgow
— NH Heating & Gas (@Nh_Heating) February 23, 2017
Chaos on the M80 which is one of Scotland’s busiest motorways. Completely closed just now with commuters stranded. #snow #StormDoris pic.twitter.com/blATqj7bHZ
— Connor Gillies (@ConnorGillies) February 23, 2017
Storm Doris chaos forces closure of M80 after J5 Auchenkilns and J9 Bannockburn https://t.co/AVxoYhM4RG pic.twitter.com/jUNi4oXx32
— STV News (@STVNews) February 23, 2017
@Martybullywee @nlcpeople 2/2 Problems on M80 began when a few vehicles had difficulty gaining traction and gritters caught in tailbacks.
— Transport Scotland (@transcotland) February 23, 2017
YES! Moved 20 feet #m80 #stormdoris
— Roy Cunningham (@j13rdc) February 23, 2017
Tut, tut, you just don’t understand. This is climate change related snow. Real snow falls gently during the hours of darkness allowing ploughs to clear it all before people get up for work. It makes the mountains pretty and children happy. It kills bad bugs and plants but protects good things.
Dontcha know anything yet?
The hold up was only a few miles from where I live – I was tempted to go take some photos!
I live near the Thelwall viaduct in Cheshire and across the fields I can see queues on the main road because the motorway is closed. I’ve heeded the advice to stay in. No point going out to join the queue.
‘People treated like cattle’
It would be against the law to treat livestock in that way !!
Of course!
Excuse – ‘Problems on M80 began when a few vehicles had difficulty gaining traction and gritters caught in tailbacks’.
Isn’t gritting supposed to happen before traction becoming a problem?
It certainly is. But I think we are living in a world where the politicians actually do believe “snowfalls are a thing of the past”. So, each time it snows, they get caught out as they never expected another storm like the last.
Fortunately, no one in Scotland got killed this time, but it’s just a matter of time.