Further travel chaos as big freeze grips country

MORE travel chaos is expected today as the big freeze sets in.

Sub-zero conditions, together with heavy overnight snowfalls in some parts of the country, have left many roads in a treacherous condition.

Last night, Drivers in Dublin were last night stranded for four hours on the N7 Naas road, after the areawest of the city ground to a halt some time after 5pm.

At first, ice hampered trucks and large vehicles attempting to the exits off the M50 at junction 7 Lucan and junction 9 Red Cow, and on the N7 Naas road near

Junction 4 Rathcoole, but within an hour all routes in Lucan, Ballymount, Tallaght and Blanchardstown slowed to a crawl.

“Drivers have called us through the evening, increasingly worried about levels of petrol about the lack of food and water, as the hours tick by,” said Nicola Hudson, AA Roadwatch controller. “The worst route this evening has been the N7 Naas road, ” she said. It has been years since we saw a situation this bad.” she added.

“The N4 finally started to improve by 10pm, after four hours, but at that stage people had abandoned cars all along the route,” she addedNicola said.

Meanwhile, gardaí are advising motorists to slow down and only make their journeys if absolutely necessary.

Local authorities throughout the country were gritting roads yesterday but with snow continuing to fall overnight some roads remain particularly dangerous.

Extra care is needed while travelling on secondary and minor roads.

AA Ireland spokesperson, Conor Faughnan, warned that road conditions would be even more dangerous and widespread today(Tues).

And motorists facing the daily commute to work should expect long travel delays.

“I think motorists are being particularly careful because no one wants to crash their car and that is why traffic is slow moving on days like this,” he said.

A number of Aer Lingus and Ryanair flights between Ireland and Britain were cancelled yesterday.

As a result of the disruption caused by the weather in London yesterday, two early morning Aer Lingus flights from Heathrow to Dublin have been cancelled today(Tues).

Ryanair flights from Shannon to Stansted and flights from Belfast City Airport were cancelled yesterday.

Dart services were suspended between Bray and Greystones, Co Wicklow, after a rock fall close to the entrance of the first tunnel on Bray Head.

Buses were arranged to transfer passengers expecting to travel on Irish Rail’s evening services between Rosslare, Arklow and Gorey and Dublin.