 Motorists left their cars by the roadside and walked home |
One motorist has told how his usual 45 minute journey home took him seven hours as icy roads caused gridlock across many English cities. Stuart Gaskill, a computer programmer from Bearwood, in Birmingham, began his 22 mile journey home from Coventry at 1600 GMT.
He said: "It was awful, my boss told me to leave work early so I did.
"I left to get onto the A45 ring road from Coventry at 1600 GMT and it was very slippy, but the traffic was moving.
"And then in Birmingham I tried to make my way to Five Ways Island to get onto the Hagley Road. At Ladywood Middleway the traffic just stopped and I was doing 10 yards every 10 minutes.
"I got to the MacDonald's about 1745 GMT."
As temperatures plummeted, roads that had been gritted became treacherous as snow locked in the salt, turning the roads to sheets of ice.
Like many other motorists, Mr Gaskill decided to leave his car and finish the journey home on foot.
He added: "It was 2200 GMT when I got to Five Ways Island, so I parked my car there and had to walk home. I finally got in about 2300 GMT.
"I'm not going to work today so I'll have to pick up the car later."
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