Drivers stranded on the A23, A27 and A259, buses and cars stranded across Brighton and Hove and motorists forced to sleep in their cars.

A car abandonded on the A259 East Dean Road A car abandonded on the A259 East Dean Road
  • Thousands of people were stranded in the snow.
  • Hundreds of cars were abandoned.
  • Emergency services were called to 2,500 incidents and there were more than 200 road accidents.
  • Drivers were trapped for more than 12 hours.
  • But transport bosses say they did their best.

See tomorrow’s Argus for our unrivalled coverage of Sussex’s March snow chaos.

 

Our team has been working tirelessly despite the weather to bring you all the news from the county’s roads, explain what happened to the gritters and tell you the stories of motorists who were stranded for hours.

Comments(10)

steveP2009 says...
6:55pm Tue 12 Mar 13

I can absolutely confirm there was no grit ANYWHERE in Brighton before the snow got heavy.

I was travelling out of Brighton via Dyke Rd and spent 2 hours travelling 1/2 a mile. I gave up as the hills around there were covered in snow and cars were rolling about all over the place. The snow took 30 mins to get heavy and I abandoned my car and went to the pub.

The council should have got the gritters out during the dat as this weather WAS forecast and I thought it would be OK as I expected the council to be on top of the situation. People need to be sacked for incompetence. It was disgraceful especially for the council tax payers. If transport bosses 'did there best' then their best is not good enough.

Absolute rubbish that the grit would blow away. The roads were wet all day from unsettled sleet - if the gritting was done during the day it would have stayed on the wet road.

rolivan says...
7:30pm Tue 12 Mar 13

Anyone thinking of travelling through the North of France in the next few days forget it the Motorways are at a standstill

funkyyoyo says...
7:32pm Tue 12 Mar 13

iv asked davey to tender hes resignation!!! the plough truck should of been out on the roads,but typically too little to late as usual,those plebs will never ever learn!!

BeeJam says...
7:32pm Tue 12 Mar 13

Here here. A farce but really what else can you excpect from this joke of a council. No gritting in my area (queen's park/freshfield) during the day yesterday. They will try and convince you black is white and grass is orange given half a chance.

barleydevil says...
9:41pm Tue 12 Mar 13

Well done all the emergency services but the true hero's are Joanne & Kerry.
http://www.thisissus
sex.co.uk/Women-walk
-A23-blankets-food-d
rivers-stranded/stor
y-18392583-detail/st
ory.html#axzz2NGKGfr
6C

yaddab says...
10:03pm Tue 12 Mar 13

Stevep2009

did you actually get off your butt and feel or even open your eyes and see the wind, or even be awake enough to marvel at some of the drifts left around after yesterday

steveP2009 says...
10:55pm Tue 12 Mar 13

yaddab wrote:
Stevep2009

did you actually get off your butt and feel or even open your eyes and see the wind, or even be awake enough to marvel at some of the drifts left around after yesterday
Grit is much heavier than snow so less prone to cause 'grit drifts', the wind was not as strong as it was in the evening so a better time to lay grit during the day and the roads were already wet so some grit would have been held by the water to the surface.

It would not have been as effective as if there was no wind - but it would help.

The council said gritters were out on the website at 19:30. My point is this is rubbish. There was no evidence of grit or grit drifts. If the grit 'blew away' then there would be grit on the pavements or at the side of the road - helping pedestrians and cyclists. This was not the case.

Major failings of Sussex council (east and west).

Cgull says...
8:15am Wed 13 Mar 13

The snow ploughs and gritters were out too late to be effective. Everyone including those at the council know that.
The last time the gritters were out was Saturday. Kitkat knows that but hasn't got the balls to confirm.
They should all be sacked or resign and call a new election.

Tallywhacker says...
8:50am Wed 13 Mar 13

So if you could see the roads were bad and conditions getting worse why did you go out?

steveP2009 says...
10:56am Wed 13 Mar 13

Tallywhacker wrote:
So if you could see the roads were bad and conditions getting worse why did you go out?
I was waiting for a comment like this.

I went out at around 15:00 and within 30 minutes (the time to get from Kemptown to Hove) the snow had blanketed the whole city. It was fine when I started driving. So like many other people it struck whilst out.

Also like many other people we were lead to believe the council prepared the city for it.

I had common sense and just left my car on a side road (then had no sense and got drunk at the pub :) )

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree