Motorists have been trapped on the A96 Aberdeen to Inverurie road for more than three hours as heavy snow sweeps across Aberdeenshire as part of Storm Eunice.
The busy trunk route ground to a halt on Friday morning as traffic struggled to cope with the extreme conditions.
Storm Eunice has been causing delays and disruption over much of the north’s roads and transport today with many schools being forced to close.
The standstill comes after many drivers were struggling to travel on the road past Tyrebagger as motorists were constricted to one lane. North East Police urged people to only travel if it was absolutely necessary.
Press and Journal food and drink writer, Karla Sinclair, left Aberdeen city centre at 10.30am – and did not arrive in Inverurie until 2.30pm due to the massive tailbacks between Dyce and Inverurie.
She reported seeing police go door-to-door and knocking on car windows to ensure drivers were ok while advising them of the lengthy wait.
It is understood a jackknifed lorry caused the A96 to be blocked during the worst of the snow from Storm Eunice.
People were ‘trying to keep warm’
Travel northbound eventually started moving at about 2.15pm. However, cars travelling south towards Aberdeen were still at a standstill at the time.
Ms Sinclair said: “I could just see everyone was quite frustrated. There were lots of people going out of their cars trying to find out what had happened.
“I was stuck just before Blackburn. There was a tailback going into Aberdeen all the way from Inverurie.
A large number of vehicles are currently struggling to travel up the Tyrebagger at the A96 between Blackburn and Aberdeen
Craibstone is also heavily affected
As a result there are large tailbacks and significant delays
Again, please only travel if your journey is necessary pic.twitter.com/qkE4nr2THO
— North East Police (@NorthEPolice) February 18, 2022
“There was some word of something happening with a lorry, but I don’t know what.
“I could see people were switching their engines on and off just to keep warm, you could see their lights going on and off.”
People commenting on a social media post on Facebook also said they had been sitting for up to three hours in stand still traffic.
One person had left Inverurie at 11.45am and is still waiting in traffic after having done only three miles.
Drivers help rescue an ambulance
NHS staff driving an ambulance on the A96 thanked drivers who helped them “unstick” their ambulance after they got stuck in snow. They were “desperately” making their way to the Sick Children’s Hospital when they got stuck.
Well done to all getting the ambulance through…hoping all is okay with anyone involved #A96 #trafficscotland #scottishambulanceservice pic.twitter.com/tLZ5oqlLsh
— Joanna McMillan (@MC_YouBore) February 18, 2022
They were “overwhelmed” after many people in nearby vehicles helped them to move the ambulance. They finally made it to their destination.
