Residents helped keep traffic moving during snow chaos

Stranded motorists were given a helping hand by kind-hearted residents on a street who kept them moving during the snowfall on early evening Tuesday .

Heavy sleet and snow that started just after 5pm caused problems across district for commuters, many of whom became stuck on the slushy roads.

But drivers on Castleford Road in Normanton were aided by three residents who spread grit from the street-corner council salt bins to keep the road passable.

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Adrian Beattie, who works in Doncaster and was heading to his home in Altofts, said: “I’d been on the A1 and M62 and that was fine but it was just gridlocked when I got on to Castelford Road, it was chaos.

“I was there for about an hour-and-a-half and there were cars stuck everywhere, it just wasn’t passable, but these three people came out of their house and gritted the road and were helping to push cars.

“They did not have to do it, they could have just watched from their windows so myself and about 20 other drivers were so grateful because we were going nowhere.

“These people saved accidents and undoubtedly injuries.”

The three who gave a helping hand were residents Wayne and Ann Birdsall, and Michael Faux.

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Tailbacks stretched for miles on the district’s main routes and surrounding towns at rush hour on Tuesday as vehicles struggled to grip the icy roads.

In Wakefield a bus was left spread across Ouchthorpe Lane after failing to make up a steady incline and blocked off the road.

Motorists hoping to reach Stanley via that route were forced to turn round and rejoin the huge queues that snaked around Pinderfields Hospital.