I HAD to travel to Milton Keynes from the south coast on Thursday night (I had been called to my mum's hospital bedside). All was fine until I got close to the M1 turnoff from the M25 then the whole system ground to a halt. The radio stations were giving air time to people whinging that there were no gritters out. They were wrong, there were plenty of gritters out. I know. Two of them were stuck fsat in the same traffic jam I was in.
I was lucky enough to be close enough to a junction to crawl off the M25 after a few hours.
Less than 5 miles of sheet ice later the roads were clear and empty of traffic. I made it to MK by 1am; and yes, mum was still alive so it wasn't a wasted journey.
Traffic was backed up because roads had been closed, mainly because they were blocked by stuck and crashed vehicles. There was absolutely no excuse for this. We knew about the snow for several days before it arrived. People who can't drive in snow should have stayed off the bloody roads and left them clear for those of us who can drive and needed to travel despite the conditions.