Heavy snow brings chaos to public transport despite gritting crews' efforts
ROTHERHAM and the Dearne Valley were plunged into travel chaos by heavy snow overnight, which has seen buses cancelled and roads left difficult to negotiate.
A dozen gritting teams worked through the night, following up on precautionary road salting, on the town’s busiest roads, with another two working specifically on the A57, A629 and A630 routes.
Overall, the authority covers 388 miles of roads and has a stockpile of 4,500 tonnes of salt to see it through the winter.
Despite their efforts, bus company Stagecoach cancelled all services in Rotherham and Barnsley, having first restricted them to main roads only.
Supertram also cut all its services, citing road conditions, blockages and issues with Network Rail.
Meanwhile, rail passengers also faced problems, with Northern - which operates local services around Rotherham - advising passengers not to travel.
LNER, which runs services to London and Edinburgh from Doncaster also warned that services would be delayed or cancelled.
Residents in the Thorpe Hesley area reported difficult road conditions and in the Dearne Valley, drivers were warned that lorries were getting stuck on the A635 at Darfield, though conditions on that road improved through the course of the morning.
Elsewhere in the area, Hough Lane and Wood Walk in Wombwell were said to be difficult to use and in Darfield, five cars were reported to stuck on Snape Hill Road, with three others unable to get up Upperwood Hill.
Conditions are expected to improve, though snow and rain is expected through the course of Sunday and Monday.
However, temperatures are not expected to fall below two degrees Celsius, with dry weather and sunny spells expected by Tuesday.