Snow joke for Hastings

More than a foot of snow fell across town as temperatures plummeted to lows of -10 in parts of 1066 Country.

By yesterday (Thursday) dozens of businesses were forced to close as locals awoke to find cars covered by snow and side roads completely inaccessible.

Some main roads remained open into the afternoon, but drivers were urged not to take to the roads unless it was an emergency and buses were cancelled until further notice.

It was the same story on the trains, with Southeastern unable to say when services were likely to resume - leaving Hastings cut off from the rest of the county.

Problems started for passengers as early as Tuesday night as services to and from the capital were hit by massive delays.

Carrie Brooke-Mellor, of Cornwallis Gardens, left London Charing Cross at 4.15pm on Tuesday - but did not make it home until 12.50am.

She was put on a bus at Tunbridge Wells and dropped on The Ridge with no help for elderly or vulnerable passengers to get home.

Another angry commuter was 25-year-old Emma Burgess who told the Observer her journey from Cannon Street took more than 10 hours.

Trains to the south coast became stuck at Orpington and Sevenoaks, meaning some passengers were trapped in carriages overnight.

Dave Willis was another caught in the cold until the following morning, desperate to get home from London on the train with his four children and a family friend.

He had taken the youngsters to north London to watch Arsenal play Wigan in the Carling Cup. But despite the Gunners’ victory, the night ended on a sour note.

“We got to London Bridge at about 10.30pm,” Mr Willis explained, “and there was no information up at all.

“Eventually a train turned up about 1am but it got stuck a short way down the track at 2am. We sat there until 10am because no taxis or buses would make the trip to collect people.

“In the end we had to get a friend with a 4x4 to drive up from Hastings to get us.

“Luckily the train was warm - but it was pretty uncomfortable and the children got a little restless because there was nothing to eat or drink.”

Mr Willis, who eventually got back to his home on The Ridge more than 12 hours after leaving London, said he did not blame the train companies completely.

“What can they do if the rail infrastructure is not in place? I do think we should have had more information though. We were told next to nothing.”

A spokesman for Southeastern apologised to customers for the disruption - particularly mindful of the eight per cent fare increase revealed in last week’s Observer.

Jon Hay-Campbell said: “This week our services have been badly affected by the weather and we are sorry for the problems this has caused our customers.

“We have been working round the clock with Network Rail to try and provide the best service we are able to during this time.”

The weather has also left thousands of people unable to leave the house - including an entire block of vulnerable people at the Four Courts in Hollington, St Leonards.

One of those was pensioner, Linda Harris-Rowland, of Roosevelt Court, who said the lack of gritting was nothing short of “disgusting”.

She said: “We have the same problem every year but it never changes. I rang up earlier in the week and asked for us to be gritted because there are 96 flats here full of old people and vulnerable people.

“However, it has not been done and now we cannot leave our homes and our carers cannot visit us.

“Some people are bed-ridden and others need help changing or with medication.

“Some people are literally being left in their own mess because of the roads and it is not good enough.”

East Sussex County Council, which is in charge of the gritting, said its staff was doing everything they could to tackle the freak conditions.

A spokesman for the authority said: “We have put down about 600 tonnes of salt in the past 24 hours across the county, leaving us with a total of around 8,500 tonnes and we have 5,000 tonnes on order.

“We would like to reassure residents all our gritters and snow ploughs have been out on all our gritting routes and are continuing to work.

“Despite this, we cannot guarantee treated roads will always be completely clear. It takes time for the salt to become effective, and in very cold weather even salt won’t prevent roads from icing.”

By yesterday every local school had closed its doors - apart from Sacred Heart in Old London Road.

And a flurry of accidents had been reported including a delivery lorry jack-knifing across the road outside the new Sainsbury’s in the town centre and a car crashing into a lamppost in Old London Road.

And, for the second year running, the Priory Meadow ice skating has ironically had to close because of the frosty weather.

Hastings Borough Council promised to continue diverting resources from departments like bin collection - which has been deemed impossible in the conditions - to helping clear pavements.