Travel warning and school closures following snow

The bus stop on Bluebridge
The bus stop on Bluebridge at 7.30am
Usually crowded with children waiting for school coaches
Camera courtesy of Fujifilm

A slight thaw following the heavy snow on Thursday, has cleared some of the ice but forecasters are warning that it will freeze over again tonight, with ice on the roads continuing to cause dangerous conditions.

A picture gallery of the afermath of the snowfall in Brookmans Park Village and the local countryside has been compiled.

Most local schools decided to remain closed today, including Chancellor's and Brookmans Park Primary, following the chaos yesterday when some local children had to walk to Potters Bar and others, attending schools outside the area, took five hours to get home.

So far gritters have not managed to reach all roads and motorists will need to take extreme care negotiating many of the side roads around Brookmans Park.

Icey conditions underfoot
Icy conditions underfoot make walking around the village dangerous
Camera courtesy of Fujifilm

Some motorists spent all night trapped in their cars trying to get home from work.

Some were trapped on major routes north out of London, including the M1, the A1(M), the M25 and the M11.

Snow began building up in Brookmans Park around 4pm on Thursday afternoon and long tail backs on most roads in and out of the village began to build up as drivers, many trying to meet children from school, became stuck.

Bluebridge
Bluebridge at 7.30am
Very few cars venturing out
Camera courtesy of Fujifilm

Many forum users reported on conditions in various parts of the village in a special thread set up in the forum.

Two local residents and forum members were trapped in their offices unable to leave before midnight.

It took one forum member more than two hours to drive from Potters Bar station to her home in Brookmans Park.

The forum thread started at 4.35pm and by midnight it had been read more than 340 times with 33 messages posted.

Overnight temperatures dropped well below freezing. Ice on all roads has led to dangerous driving conditions on Friday morning and the BBC weather centre says people should be extremely careful on the roads and walking today.

Brookmans Avenue
Brookmans Avenue like an ice rink
Camera courtesy of Fujifilm

Hertfordshire County has a winter maintenance programme which is on 24-hour stand-by during the season.

The authority has a fleet of 55 salting lorries which spread salt to try to prevent ice forming on roads.

So far they have been concentrating on major routes. The fleet is deployed about 40 times during the winter, usually at night.

On each trip they will treat more than 42% of the county's entire network -- about 1,553 miles. The 'gritters' cover 58 different routes across the county in priority order.

A picture gallery of the afermath of the snowfall in Brookmans Park Village and the local countryside has been compiled.

If you want to share your experiences of the snow storm a special thread is running in the forum.

January 31, 2003

Related News
Snow brings chaos to Brookmans Park - January 30, 2003
Snow closes many local schools - January 30, 2003

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