Devon County say the A380 and A38 snow chaos could not have been stopped

Devon county council have said there was nothing more that could be done – following the snow-fuelled chaos on Telegraph and Haldon Hill last night.

A spokesman said: “There were blizzard conditions on the A380 at Telegraph Hill as well as Haldon Hill on the A38, which is the responsibility of the Highways Agency.

“The A380 was treated three times in less than 24 hours before the heavy snow fall last night, the last one at 3pm – just hours before the heavy snow started falling. Gritters were also dispatched onto the A380 to treat continuously when the snow flurries began.

“Four Devon County Council gritters were used in recovering the situation by ploughing, clearing and treating the road to get traffic moving. Both lanes of the A380 in each direction re-opened around midnight.”

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation, said: “We obviously sympathise with motorists that got stuck on Telegraph Hill and Haldon Hill last night, but I don’t think people should be looking to lay blame at the door of anyone. The A380 had been treated repeatedly ahead of the snowfall and gritter drivers were on shift to provide 24 hour response from lunchtime, so I don’t think there was anything more that could have been done. These were freak conditions, not on the scale of last February, but still bad enough.”

Chris Cranston, Devon County Council’s Highway Operations Manager, said: “The Met Office issued a severe weather warning of an 80% chance of serious disruption to travel as a result of heavy snow, and it turns out they were correct. Of course we share the sentiment of the Police and Highways Agency in apologising for the delays but we were as prepared as we could be. What we couldn’t account for is the sheer amount of snow which fell in a short space of time, and there was an incident on the A380 during the evening rush hour which caused traffic to back up. As soon as traffic stops in heavy snow then you are fighting a losing battle to recover the situation.

“But the situation was eventually recovered and that is thanks to the co-ordinated effort between the Police, Highways Agency, Devon County Council and Fire and Rescue, which made this a very different situation from last February. Last year the snow came in at 9pm after the evening peak period, whereas this time the snow came just as traffic was building to its busiest period and therefore the build-up of traffic was very rapid. There was excellent joint agency working and everyone was fully committed to getting traffic moving as quickly as possible rather than leaving it until the morning like last year.”

Rest centres were opened by Devon County Council and Teignbridge District Council as a precaution at Chudleigh Town Hall and Exeter Racecourse at Haldon. Officers from the County Council’s Social Services managed the centres with support from volunteers including St John Ambulance, British Red Cross, Salvation Army, Chudleigh Town Council, racecourse staff and local members of the public.