A father from Inverness is “glad to be home safe” with his toddler after a journey from hell during the height of Storm Gerrit.
Dean Bell was making his way home to the Highland Capital with his three-year-old son Lincoln yesterday morning when the storm wreaked havoc across the country.
The pair were travelling to Inverness from Livingston after visiting relatives over the festive period.
Father left stranded in Aberdeen with 3-year-old son
Speaking to the Press & Journal, Mr Bell said that most of his journey “was scary at times” due to the amount of water and debris on the roads.
The 40-year-old also said that “having a Jaguar f-pace made a huge difference” adding, “it does make a difference having the right type of vehicle for the conditions. If I had the other Ford Focus car, I would not have made it to Aberdeen”.
The pair had headed to Livingston on Boxing Day morning to spend time with their family.
As the weather didn’t seem too bad the next morning, they left Livingston not knowing what was to come.
‘Inverness dad had no warning of Storm Gerrit’
After heading towards Perth, he soon found out that the road to Dunkeld was closed as well as the A90 on the way to Dundee and Forfar.
Mr Bell said that he “had no prior warning” of the road closures until he was turned away.
Several major roads across the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeenshire were closed at points throughout Wednesday.
He said: “I then managed to get through Brechin which was scary at times.
“I pulled over and three cars behind me asked where we were going and when I said Aberdeen, they asked to follow me”.
By this point it was almost 5pm and Dean and his son Lincoln had been driving for more than six hours.
When he finally reached the A96, he was devastated to learnt that the road between Huntly and Keith was closed.
At this point he knew he wasn’t going to make it home to Inverness.
‘I thought to myself, I can’t get home’
He added: “It was only me and my wee boy travelling, my wife was at home. Gemma was in a bit of a panic at home, but I did my best to reassure her.
“I didn’t want to panic in front of Lincoln as kids can sense when you are stressed. So, I just kept telling him “daddy will get you home to mummy”.
Working as a parts manager for Parks Motor Group, Mr Bell feels his experience driving helped him get through yesterday.
When realising he wasn’t going to make it home, he phoned his wife who then had to frantically find them somewhere to stay for the night.
“We got very lucky and managed to get a room at the Premier Inn at Westhill.
The lady at reception told me that we got the last room and that they had a hotel full of stranded people.
“Despite the chaos, my wee boy loved it, he absolutely loved seeing all of the puddles and trees. When we got to the hotel he was loving life, being in the same room as dad.
“We got up to leave the next morning and was home in Inverness by 11am. We are just glad to be home safe and sound”.