Rio Jordan | Reporter
Four people have been killed in crashes in Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire as wintry conditions fail to subside across Britain.
Snowfall made driving conditions treacherous in many parts of the country, disrupted rail and air transport networks and forced hundreds of schools to close. More snow is forecast for the rest of the week.
“Sadly three people have lost their lives this morning and several people have faced the shock of witnessing or coming across the scene,” said Lincolnshire police sergeant Helen Alcock on Tuesday, referring to the first of the two fatal collisions.
Police appealed for witnesses to the incident, which involved a blue Renault Clio and a white Scania lorry on the A15 shortly after 6am, to come forward.
The crash was one of 20 within three hours on Lincolnshire’s roads, including one involving a school bus with 45 pupils on board, police said. The children were unharmed after their vehicle collided with a car and veered off the road near Deeping St James.
Officers in Cambridgeshire said another man had died in a crash involving three vehicles on the A47 near Peterborough shortly before 10am.
Essex police said one person was injured in a 17-car pile-up on the A120 between Colchester and Elmstead Market.
At least eight people died in mainland Europe as freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall swept across the continent from the east. Polish police said five had died there as a result of temperatures that dropped as low as -22C. Three deaths were reported in Romania.
With conditions set to worsen in Britain overnight and into tomorrow, perhaps those with the power to do so must take into consideration the tragedies of recent days and ponder the question as to whether it is truly worth putting the British people in danger in order for them to attend one day of work or school. Perhaps my view, as a pupil, is biased but I certainly wouldn’t vocalise a single complaint if I were given a day off school. After all, it could save a life.
