A woman who spent five hours stuck in the snow on the M62 has told of her 'horrific' night spent shivering in her car. Ashleigh Marsden, 31, didn't get home from a concert in Manchester until 5am today - despite setting off at 11pm last night.
After heavy snow on the M62 caused stand-still traffic all night, Ashleigh, from Bradford, West Yorks, was left shivering in her car. She had been to watch Chris Brown's concert at the AO Arena with a friend, and the drive home should have taken just over an hour.
Ashleigh described a 'horrific' night as the pals sat shivering in her car. She said: "We had thought the concert might be cancelled because of the weather, but it went ahead so we went.
"Manchester was ok for snow, but the surrounding areas were terrible so we were surprised it went ahead. We did consider booking a hotel but thought it would be ok - in hindsight, we should have booked."
Read more:
The women's fashion buyer didn't get back home until 5am. She said she witnessed 'lorry pile-ups' and countless 'cars scattered across roads'.
She recalled a lorry nearly colliding into the side of her car as it skidded across the road. She likened the chaos to 'fairground dodgems' at one point when they approached an incline.
Ashleigh said: "I'm quite a confident driver and I was a bag of nerves looking up at that hill. On the side were a few lorries broken down, and cars stranded.
"We had to rely on car in front and follow their tracks and just hope we'd be ok. We got home in the end at 5am - and I was up for work again at 8am!
"In the standstill traffic I turned my engine off but I had to keep turning it on again because it got so cold. Google Maps told me it would be an hour and 15 minutes drive - but it didn't end up being that at all."
Hundreds of cars got stuck in the snow near Rochdale overnight as a blizzard hit. The RAC said 'the situation was made worse' by drivers overtaking other vehicles and getting stuck in fresh snow.
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT:
- LIVE Greater Manchester snow and traffic updates as roads closed and M62 drivers stuck for hours in 'awful blizzard conditions'
- Attorney General to consider whether sentences handed to Thomas Campbell's killers were 'unduly lenient'
- Real Betis fans clash with police in ugly scenes during Manchester United's Europa League win
- Mum's anguish as son, 32, fighting for life 5,000 miles from home
- 'Your whole life was robbed... our hearts are broken': Sister of young woman murdered by 'pathetic' thug pays tribute as killer faces justice
