FIGHT WEATHER WOES
HULL TAXI DRIVER LEFT STRANDED ON M62 FOR 12 HOURS AS HUGE SNOW DRIFT LEAVES HUNDREDS STUCK
A Hull taxi driver was left stranded on the M62 for 12 hours bat- tling snow and ice as Storm Emma bat- tered the country. Hull Cars driver Steve Cheesbrough, 46, was on his way back to Hull after dropping a customer off in Sal- ford, when he, along with dozens of other motorists, got stuck on the motorway between junctions 20 and 22.
Mr Cheesbrough ended up having to stay in his car from 6pm on Thursday
Hull taxi driver Steve Cheesbrough
night to 6am on Fri- day with just a coat he had in his car to keep his warm. “The snow drifts
were really bad,” he said. “It was awful, there were cars and lorries just abandoned all
MANCHESTER PHV FIRM GOES EXTRA MILE TO HELP IN SNOW
A minicab firm went the extra mile to get vital supplies to scores of elderly and vulnerable people cut off by the snow and ice last month. Manchester private hire firm, Club Cars, put out an appeal on social media asking anyone who was stranded by the bad weather to get in touch, and their drivers would drop off whatever they needed. For days their kind- hearted drivers travelled all over Greater Manchester to help people out, topping up gas meters and going to the shops for bread, milk and eggs. Rachid Zaharra, 25, one of the general managers of the cab company, which is based in Wythen-
APRIL 2018
shawe, told the Manchester Eve- ning News: “Myself and a couple of managers were hav- ing a meeting regarding the dis- ruptions on the roads and we hap- pened to peer out of the window and we noticed an old lady struggling to get to the shops. It was quite distressing to see that really. “We thought, we have got cars every- where, why can’t we help? We put out a Facebook post not thinking we were going to get much of a response but it just lit up like a fuse and started going crazy. “We did 70 to 80 deliveries over a couple of days. The response we were getting from the
people, it was amaz- ing.”
A Wythenshawe housing assocaition even contacted them to ask if they could help their resi- dents and they pulled out all the stops to respond. Of the company’s 750 drivers around 300 were able to get on the roads to help with running their normal taxi service, as well as dropping off deliveries. Rachid said: “The furthest one we did was in Rochdale - we wound up in a 4x4 because none of the normal cars could get up there. “For some people their gas had run out and if we didn’t help them they were at risk of pneumonia. It was a fantastic effort from everybody.”
over the place. You couldn’t see a thing at times when the wind blew the snow- drifts and it was just so cold, I think it was about minus four.” Some drivers had abandoned their cars and sought refuge with the nearby community of Milnrow, where volunteers were seen trekking up to the motorway with food and hot drinks. “I had some por- ridge and a banana with me so I had that to eat, but people
from the community centre were bringing hot drinks and crisps for everyone,” the taxi driver said. “I decided the best thing to do was stay in my car, so I put the engine on and heaters every now and then and also managed to get the odd 20 minutes’ sleep here and there. “There was another taxi driver in front of me from Leeds with his passengers and they just stayed in there all night.” Mr Cheesbrough
and other drivers were told they could finally move their vehicles at 6am the next day to a nearby industrial estate. The Hull taxi driver stayed there until about 7.30am be- fore
making the
decision to try to get back to Hull via the M6 to Birmingham and then the M1. “I have had lots of strong coffee and I hope to be back home for 10.30am,” Mr Cheesbrough said. “It has been a long fare, this one.”
LAURA MUIR WINS WORLD BRONZE MEDAL AFTER FRANTIC TAXI DASH
Laura Muir fought through a star-stud- ded field to win a maiden global med- al in the 3,000m at the World Indoor Championships, but she also had to bat- tle the elements just to get to the start line at the Arena Birmingham on Thursday March 1st. Muir, 24, who is in the final year of her vet- erinary studies at the University of Glas- gow, did not an- ticipate her plans to get to the champi- onships would go out of the window. With her flight, then train, cancelled when Storm Emma un- leashed its wrath, Muir and her coach Andy Young were forced to take a ludi- crous six-hour, £1,500 cab journey in snowdrifts that near-
driver. They man- aged to make arrangements and get us down here,” she said.
Laura Muir wins a bronze medal
ly ended her hopes of competing. “This time yesterday I was in a taxi halfway down the M6, it was crazy,” Muir told reporters of her ordeal. “We couldn’t see the bonnet, the wind- screen wipers were freezing. It took us about six hours and we got here at 11pm. “Going through Car- lisle it was just crazy, but hats off to British Athletics and the taxi
It is understood British Athletics has picked up the pricey taxi bill. The Scot said: “I went to vets school yesterday morning and saw a couple of appointments were cancelled so I got to go home early. We tried to get flights but then all flights were cancelled so it was a matter of get- ting a taxi to get down.” Regardless of her travel woes, Muir still had business to sort on the opening day of competition at the champi- onships. Laura also competed in the women’s 1500m where she came 6th.
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