Heavy snow shuts ten schools

Russell Steele • Published 25 Feb 2010 10:00

SIX schools were closed in Inverclyde today due to the heavy snowfall.

Pupils from St Stephen's and Port Glasgow high schools, as well as Newark, Kilmacolm, St Michael's and St Francis' primaries, were told to stay at home.

Inverclyde's town centres escaped the worst of the snow problems, but people living higher up had a more difficult time.

The Tele received calls from residents in Greenock's Strone and Port Glasgow's Devol areas, saying there was a snowfall of several inches.

Snow fell for most of the day yesterday and there were heavy flurries overnight and this morning.

Buses and cars struggled through snow and slushy conditions on Peat Road this morning, and trains on the Gourock and Wemyss Bay lines were affected last night.

A Leven Road resident said: "There were problems in the Strone. Snow ploughs were sent up but the roads were icy and buses and cars were sliding around.

"I cleared my driveway of snow and it was covered again within 10 minutes. I couldn't take my car out in case I was unable to get back up the hill again to my house."

A Devol resident said: "There was no snow down at the dual carriageway but it got really heavy as you went up Clune Brae.

"Traffic was crawling about two miles an hour on Clune Brae and it was even more difficult getting to Devol. It was blowing a blizzard up there and the roads were very slippy."

Inverclyde Council said their snow ploughs had also been gritting, concentrating first on main routes and then moving to other roads.

A spokesman said they had plenty of grit to cover the next week.

He said: "We took another delivery of grit on Tuesday and have enough for seven days of heavy snow."

Police said they had no reports of accidents caused by the wintry weather.

Today's forecast is for heavy snow between noon and 3pm, light rain until 6pm, then heavy snow for the rest of the night.

The temperature will be about 3C all day, with chilly east-north-east winds.

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 25 Feb 10

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