Couple rescued from car as heavy snow covers North Yorkshire (From Gazette & Herald)

Couple rescued from car as heavy snow covers North Yorkshire

9:31am Saturday 26th January 2013 in News By Dan Bean, dan.bean@thepress.co.uk

A COUPLE, including a woman who was recovering from surgery, had to be rescued from their car after the vehicle became stuck in a snow drift in North Yorkshire last night.

Several inches of snow fell across the region overnight, leading hazardous driving conditions on many of North Yorkshire’s roads, and a number of drivers being forced to abandon their vehicles.

In one incident, North Yorkshire Fire Service were called to the scene, on the road between Stape and Egton, in the North York Moors, at about 7.30pm yesterday, after the couple had tried to dig themselves free from the snow drift for over two hours when their breakdown service refused to attend.

A spokesman for the Fire Service said the couple were rescued and taken to a local hotel, but reminded the public that crews would ordinarily only attend incidents where life was at risk.

A spokesman for the Highways Agency warned motorists to take extra care when travelling, due to the increased risk of adverse driving conditions through heavy snow which covered North Yorkshire last night.

He said: “Road users across England are being advised to check the latest weather forecast and road conditions before they travel today as significant snow is currently being experienced.

“Road users are also advised to plan their journey before they set out, to leave extra time if travel conditions are poor or to consider delaying their journey if the weather becomes severe.”

Although the snow stopped in the early hours of this morning, the Met Office has predicted heavy rain from about 9pm and overnight, which could lead to a rapid thaw, and possibly some flooding in the region.