By now you will have heard all about - and long forgotten -
the night of Thursday January 30 when the UK had a small amount of snow that
suddenly froze over and caused the most horrendous traffic hold-ups in UK
history.
However, to those involved, that evening won't be forgotten
quite so quickly because either they were involved on a trip that ended up
taking much longer than anyone could possibly have imagined or even worse,
they were involved in a collision because the lack of any gritting on many
roads caused vehicles to slide about unmercifully and gave drivers no chance
of controlling or even trying to stop!
Call Sign heard many stories as the night unfolded and each on
its own would merit a whole article. There was Chris Conway (H90) who
went from Golders Green to Edgware. He picked up at 10.55 on that fateful
evening and set down at 1.20am.
Mike Gordelier (L27) went from the City to Harrow and almost achieved
miracles by completing the trip in under two and a half hours while Stuart
Benjamin (B10) also went to Harrow - this time from Grays Inn Road -
arriving there some three hours later!
Upper Ground to Finchley took John Morgan (H50) four hours and twenty
minutes while Mark Goldring (B55) accepted a trip from Wigmore Street
to Hendon. Just two hours and forty minutes later he set down his rather
fed-up passenger!
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If only that passenger realised how lucky he was because the night of January 30 also saw Call Sign
photographer, Alan Green (E52), take an astronomical NINE hours to
get from Heathrow to his home in Southgate and - to make it even worse - he
was empty!
Alan told Call Sign: "I was delighted when I trapped
a cash trip from Great Ormond Street hospital to Heathrow. I set the job
down just after 5pm in the afternoon. It was snowing and the traffic was
fairly heavy but nothing I hadn't seen before. As I pulled away from LAP,
the snow started to get heavier and I decided to go home to Southgate. At
that time of day it usually takes around an hour with a bit of traffic.
"I made my way onto the A312 and stopped at Tesco in
Heston for some diesel. The snow was now even heavier and the traffic was
stationery as far as the eye could see. Nothing was happening, so I put on
the DaC map and tried to use the back streets but it was a total waste of
time. There was traffic everywhere, so I returned to the main road only to
get stuck behind a bus that couldn't move. I changed directions towards
Greenford and found myself stuck behind yet another bus that couldn't move!
Eventually I managed to escape into a side street that was also jammed
solid. Two hours later I managed to get back into main road behind guess
who...yep the same bus!
"I was now stuck in Greenford Road. People were just
parking and leaving their cars anywhere. One car was dumped in middle of
road and no one could get past for over an hour! I ducked and dived until I
found myself on the almost-clear Sudbury Court Drive, but found myself
sliding down a 1 in 20 slope and losing control. It was pure luck that I
didn't slide into any parked cars. Then the most scary part of all. In my
mirror I could see a car speeding down the hill behind me. I had no way of
knowing whether he was driving or in an out-of-control slide. I
managed to stop and gave a silent prayer expecting to feel an almighty crash
into the back of my cab that would have also sent me into a high-speed slide
down the hill. Somehow the car just missed me and I never saw it again.
Alan continued: "Eventually I found myself on the
Kingsbury Road. At Kenton Station another broken down bus was causing a
delay. Somehow I got to The Hyde, Edgware Road but never realised how steep
that hill was with cars again sliding all over the show. I crawled to
Staples Corner and got onto the North Circular Road. For a short time we
managed to get up to a speed of 20mph. The feeling of freedom was amazing
until I suddenly hit another huge hold up. Back into the crowded back
streets again until I got to Chase Way in Southgate and almost home -
ALMOST! My cab wheels started to spin and I couldn't move. I tried going
through the gears but was stuck in the snow. The thought of getting stuck
after all those hours was hard to take, but as a last resort I tried using a
hand brush that I keep for sweeping out the taxi to clear snow away from in
the tread and around the wheels. I slowly eased it into gear and managed to
move again just in time to see a gritting lorry behind me that I
allowed to pass and then followed. It was almost a luxury!
"I pulled into my front gate at 2am on Friday morning and
almost slid into my front door! It had taken me almost nine hours and I felt
just totally knackered! Anyone who tells me that they like snow had better
keep well clear of me for several months!"
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