Drivers Stuck For Hours on M40

By Anna Jones, 5th February 2012, 08:00

As heavy snow fell across the Thames Valley on Saturday night, around 100 drivers were stranded on the M40 for hours.

Thames Valley Police said the snow caused a traffic jam between junctions nine and four southbound on the M40 from about 9pm. A spokesman said the backlog was beginning to clear by around 1am.

Heart caught up with Ellie Sanderson from Benson in Oxfordshire, who was one of those stuck for several hours after joining the motorway at Beaconsfield.

Ellie said:

"Fortunately I was with my husband, but I was looking at all these poor women in their cars on their own thinking if they haven't got enough petrol to keep the heating going there's going to be a lot of panic.

"There didn't seem to be anyone around to help. I didn't see a snow plough trying to clear at least one lane."

Thames Valley Police told Heart their patrol cars were out helping gritters get through, and the delays were caused by heavy vehicles trying to get up hills in the snow.

Local authority salting lorries were out across Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire on Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday.

Although many main routes are running well, Thames Valley Police officers are still urging you to take extra care if you have to head out.

A spokesman for the Basingstoke-based AA said it dealt with around 1,500 call-outs per hour on Saturday.

A number of football games have been cancelled because of the weather.

The Doncaster versus Reading match was postponed while a number of other lower league contests were called off.

While the mercury dropped to minus 12.4C in South Newington, Oxfordshire, on Friday night - the lowest recorded temperature this season - it is expected to remain considerably milder tonight with lows of minus 4C before falling again next week.