Arctic blast brings chaos and tragedy

David O'Leary • Last updated 2 Apr 2010 11:19 0 Comments

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TRAGEDY as well as freezing conditions struck the region this week after a 17-year old schoolgirl lost her life in a bus crash.

Natasha Paton, of Cleghorn, was killed when a coach careered off a snow-covered bridge and plunged into an icy river at Wiston, near Biggar, early on Wednesday morning.

Questions have still yet to be answered about why the trip taking 38 Lanark Grammar pupils to Alton Towers theme park was allowed to go ahead.

Five people were today still in hospital, with three believed to have serious injuries.

The accident at Garf Water has also led many parents to question why seatbelts were not provided for the children.

However, Alan Brown, managing director of bus company, Photoflash, said all buses were fitted with lap seat belts and passengers were told they must wear them.

He also added: "They don't always keep them on. They are children and they do take seat belts off."

A spokesperson for Scottish Borders Council confirmed the authority's position as: "All school contract buses must be fitted with seatbelts. The operator has a responsibility to advise pupils to wear seatbelts either via an announcement or signs next to each seat.

"Pupils over the age of 14 are responsible for fastening their own seatbelt."

Superintendent Ian Murray of Strathclyde Police said the crash investigation would take all possible factors into account.

Bizarrely the blizzard conditions heralded the arrival of British Summer Time - the onset of which saw temperatures drop below freezing and strong winds and heavy snow severely reduce visibility across the whole of the region.

Almost all the main arteries, the A68, A7, A701, A702 and A703, in the Borders were closed at some point due to drifting snow and flooding during the early hours of Wednesday morning - and several back roads remained blocked yesterday (Thursday).

Several cars were abandoned on the A702 near West Linton as blizzards made driving almost impossible.

A spate of minor accidents were also recorded by police.

Meanwhile hundreds of homes in rural areas such West Linton, Tweedsmuir and Broughton spent all of Wednesday without power.

Broughton residents also lost their water supply due to an electricity failure at the nearby pumping station.

Phone lines were also down in West Linton after a telephone pole fell at Broomlee Mains.

Services were returned later that day but at the time of going to press several homes in Romanno Bridge, Skirling and Dolphinton were still without power.

Margaret Harrison from West Linton told us: "We've had no power for over a day and a half now. I've contacted Scottish Power and they said that they were having big problems in Midlothian and would get to us at some stage today (Thursday).

"Our power's always the first off and last on as a result of being situated where we are in a rural area nearly 800 feet above sea level. It's been a nightmare but hopefully it'll be fixed soon."

Another local affected by the blackout was Christine Parker of Tweedsmuir.

She said: "We were without power all of Tuesday night until Wednesday at 6pm.

"Thankfully though a lot of locals have gas or coal fires so they coped well enough. The A701 was ploughed this morning (Thursday) but is still horrendously icy."

Scottish Power said households in the Borders were among the worst affected nationwide, resulting in the company having to draft in hundreds of extra staff.

A spokesperson for utility supplier said: "The intensity of the bad weather had an effect on our ability to reach some of the affected areas but we have extra resources out today (Thursday) and we hope to bring the supply back online to the remaining customers without power."

This article appeared in Peeblesshire News 02 Apr 10

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