Travel chaos across region as wintry weather hits

By Chris Cromar and Denny Andonova

December 8 2022, 9:03 am

Cars driving in snow near Lumsden on Wednesday. Image: Michael Traill.

Travellers were hit with disruption this morning as the first snow of winter arrived in the north and north-east.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice, which will remain in place until noon on Sunday.

Schools were closed on Thursday – with rural Moray and Aberdeenshire communities worst hit by the weather.

Many motorists reported difficult driving conditions in the morning, with the AWPR at the Cleanhill roundabout among the trouble spots.

The Cults area of Aberdeen was covered in snow this morning. Image: Paul Glendell / DC Thomson.

Last night, police closed the snow gates on the A93 Aberdeen to Braemar road and the Spittal, heading towards Glenshee.

Traffic on the A941 Dufftown to Elgin road was heavy for several hours this morning, with queues building up at the Keith turn-off due to the snowy conditions.

The B974 Cairn O’Mount Road/Old Military Road between Fettercairn and Banchory has also been shut to traffic.

Elsewhere in Aberdeenshire, the A939 Ballater to Tomintoul road was cut off between Tomintoul and Cock Bridge, with snow gates at the site closed.

Traffic backed up along the A92 due to the snow. Picture: Frank O’Donnell/DC Thomson.

Earlier today, a lorry lost traction on the A90 between Stonehaven and Cleanhill, resulting in tailbacks. However, it has since been cleared.

A number of vehicles also got stuck in the snow on the A96 Aberdeen to Inverness road at Keith.

Disruption on the railways

Trains between Aberdeen and Inverness were brought to a halt this morning after snow and ice blocking the line, which caused a signalling fault between Huntly and Insch.

Train tickets acceptance was put in place with Stagecoach North Scotland buses between Inverness and Aberdeen in both directions.

There has been disruption to train services across the region due to the snowfall overnight. Image: Frank O’Donnell and Lindsay Bruce/DC Thomson.

The route was reopened at around 11am, however, there was some disruption to services until 4pm.

Elsewhere, ScotRail advised that due to heavy snow, services may be limited.

Train services between Glasgow Queen Street and Mallaig were revised after a road rail vehicle derailed on the West Highland line in the Rannoch area.

Trains from Glasgow to Fort William were also affected.

⛄️SNOW⛄️

There is still wintry showers across the network

Drive to the road conditions and drive with care – please allow space for our gritters & tractors to clear the road.

Please follow @trafficscotland & @ARL_AWPR for updates on the AWPR/B-T. pic.twitter.com/yUhMNK3cTY

— Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (@ARL_AWPR) December 8, 2022

The Stagecoach Bluebird number 35 service between Aberdeen and Fyvie was cancelled for a period of time due to the adverse weather conidtions.

First Aberdeen warned that services across the city would be affected, tweeting: “All bus services are affected this morning due to heavy overnight snow and a lack of snow gritters.

“This means many roads are blocked across the city. We are doing our best to get some services back to normal. We apologise for any inconvenience.”

Keeping main roads and main pavements open is council’s priority

Regarding the gritting of roads in the city, an Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman confirmed: “All available resources are currently concentrating on keeping the main roads and main pavements (Union Street and nearby) open due to the snow.

“We are having to continuously grit the primary routes (the main roads which are about 50% of the city’s roads network).”

Due to the primary routes being mostly cleared, the local authority has started on secondary routes, which includes.