Snow brings chaos to county

Dec 2 2010 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

snow

SNOW has brought chaos across West Lothian as the worst winter conditions in nearly 50 years batter the county.

Overnight on Tuesday 30cm of snow fell in West Lothian with a further 20cm expected to hit the county last night forcing West Lothian Council to invoke their severe weather emergency plan.

In a repeat of the big freeze from earlier this year, the county has ground to a standstill in some places as the road network struggles to cope with the massive fall of snow – believed by many people to be the worst to hit the county since 1964.

And in an unprecedented move the council have moved to close all schools in West Lothian for the rest of the week in the interests of pupil safety.

NHS Lothian are experiencing increased activity levels across many services, but say they are currently managing the additional pressures.

Early on Monday morning, between 10 and 15cm of snow fell on the county in a two-hour period.

The M8 motorway was badly affected by the bad weather and had to be closed westbound at Junction 3 at Livingston, during Monday morning’s rush hour, after a lorry jack-knifed across the carriageway.

And other main routes are only passable with care as police warned drivers to avoid all but essential journeys.

Council workers continue to battle to deal with the onslaught of the severe weather with gritting lorries and 120 extra council staff drafted in, along with 40 contractors from the private sector, to use mini tractors and JCBs in a bid to keep traffic moving.

And with the wintry conditions set to continue for the rest of the week, drivers are being urged to continue driving with extreme care.

West Lothian Council have reassured the public that they are working flat-out to minimise the disruption caused by the unseasonably cold weather.

Council leader Peter Johnston said: “We had 20,000 tonnes of salt in stock when the cold weather struck, double our stocks for last year, with 3000 more ordered.

“We recently purchased 10 new vehicles to cope with winter, including four dedicated gritters, to make sure we were prepared.

“The snow is having a huge impact on work across the council, but I’m confident we are coping as well as can be expected despite the severe conditions.”