A pensioner has claimed she has been trapped in her home for almost a week because her icy street is too treacherous to drive or walk on.
Mary Donald, 76, has been too scared to leave her home on Gordon Avenue, Bridge of Don after the north-east was hit with some of the worst freezing conditions the region has faced in recent years.
Police have been inundated with crashes due to the hazardous surfaces while NHS Grampian has said it has experienced an upsurge in injured people coming through the doors of accident and emergency departments.
While schools across the city and Aberdeenshire have experienced closures or problems with pupil transport.
Mrs Donald has said the surfaces are the worst she has ever seen in more than four decades living on the small street, near the Black Dog Pub.
She said: “It’s absolutely horrendous, if I wanted to I could sit at the top of the hill and slide all the way down.
“It’s been like this for almost a week, I’ve not been able to take my car out or walk anywhere.
“A car slid into my driveway and nearly crashed into my garden wall and another car crashed into a utility van which was stuck on the ice.
“It is the worst I’ve ever seen here, I have lived here since 1976 and I’ve never seen anything like it,” she added.
Meanwhile, the hazardous state of surfaces has caused major disruption across the area.
Yesterday morning Ellon Primary School was closed as the surrounding area was deemed too dangerous.
Later that afternoon the town’s Meiklemill School was also closed due to the severe conditions.
While Westhill Academy was shut at 2.30pm as the already perilous routes around to the facility continued to deteriorate.
And 21 schools had to either cancel or reroute transport.
Last night the city council’s transport chief said the authority was doing all it can to ensure roads and paths are safe.
Councillor Ross Grant, transport spokesman, said: “Weather conditions continue to be challenging and Aberdeen City Council teams are working to the agreed winter maintenance programme.
“Despite the ongoing efforts, clearly there are areas in which paths and roads remain affected by snow and ice. We would urge road users and pedestrians to be cautious whilst these issues persist.
“Aberdeen City Council is responsible for a network of 560 miles of roads and 1,200 miles of paths and these are treated in accordance with agreed priorities. We were prepared for the freezing temperatures and have been working to those priorities.”
While Aberdeenshire Council said it was faced with a perfect storm of thawing ice, rain and more freeze across a huge area.
A spokesman said: “We are working hard to cover as many miles as we can, but are facing very challenging weather conditions.
“During the day, the compacted snow and ice is beginning to thaw, then as the overnight temperatures drop to well below zero it re-freezes. So over the last few days we have a cycle of thaw, freeze, thaw rain, freeze meaning that we have to retreat the same area many times.
“It also has to be borne in mind that when road surfaces drop well below zero some of our options, like salt, take much longer to be effective.”
