Snow warning after drivers airlifted to safety (From The Northern Echo)

Snow warning after drivers airlifted to safety

8:31pm Wednesday 30th December 2009 in

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AN urgent warning has tonight been issued for drivers to take extra care on exposed roads after six motorists had to be airlifted to safety when their cars became stuck in drifting snow.

Mountain rescue teams and an RAF helicopter were called to the road between Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, and Brough, Cumbria, at 6pm tonight.

The six stranded people were airlifted to Middleton and Kirkby Stephen.

Steve Owers, spokesman for Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue Team, said the motorists had been trapped after high winds blew snow off fields.

"It was drifting right across the roads," he said. "People drive through it thinking they can get through because we've had no more snow, but it's actually very deep.

"In this case the easiest way to get these six people out was by helicopter."

He urged drivers to take extra care when travelling on exposed rural roads.

He said: "In County Durham we have got some of the highest roads in England and it might look great down in the valleys, but those high roads going from Teesdale to Weardale, and Teesdale to Cumbria can become impassable very quickly."