STRUGGLING IN THE GLACIER BELT

Northern Advocate, 8 March 1947, Page 7

STRUGGLING IN T HE GLACIER BELT

Snow has fallen for 25 successive days in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Thousands of miles of roads are blocked. Sixty lorries are buried under 15' feet of snow on the Great North Road near Grantham. Three hundred lorries are waiting south of the drift for a chance to get through with priority supplies. Six thousand men, 300 snow-ploughs and 50 bulldozers in Derbyshire

. ceaselessly to try to clear : driffs, men trying pneumatic ham- ' mers and spades against solid ice, j which formed as the snow thawed ! slightly and re-froze into solid ice. j Jet engines were successful in the ' earlier stages but, according to the | Ministry of Fuel, have not been so efficient against packed down snow and ice. Weather records show that frost has occurred every day and night since January 10 in most north-east and north Midlands areas. The Automobile Association reports that traffic churned up the latest snowfall and the night frost has given roads a surface like a vegetable grater. Coalfields in Nottingham reported conditions were worse. Sixteen pits closed because the miners could not get to work or could not shift the coal away from the pitheads. West Midlands pits reported there production was down 40 per cent. Luton City’s coal stocks are exhausted. Even hospitals are fearing supplies will be restricted. The Morris motor works in Birmingham warned that there would be severe damage to the factory and equipment by frost if coal did not arrive in time to maintain at least an emergency heating system. The Ministry of Fuel’s evening statement said; “No appreciable improvement can be recorded in the coalfields or in the movement of coal by rail. More snow in the north-wesl and Yorkshire is increasing existing difficulties."