Heaviest snowfall in three decades caused chaos across Crawley 15 years ago – a look back in photos

The freezing weather hit West Sussex in the first week of January 2010.

The story was reported in the Crawley Times, an edition of the County Times, on Friday, January 8, 2010.

The front page piece by then County Times reporter Amie Morell said that up to 15 centimetres of snow fell over the town on the Tuesday night (January 5), which caused ‘widespread disruption to schools, commuters and the emergency services’.

The article continued: “On Wednesday and yesterday (Thursday, January 7) more than 25 schools closed their doors to pupils while community centres, Town Hall, K2, Snell Hatch Cemetery, The Hawth, and Crawley and Broadfield libraries were shut.

“There was travel chaos on the roads as many drivers were forced to abandon their cars and walk to safety. One lane was closed on the A23 both ways, and abandoned cars were left scattered under blankets of snow on the Brighton Road stretch of the A23.

“On the trains, the Southern network produced a revised timetable, but as the day continued and more snow fell, many services became subject to delays and cancellations. Metrobus suspended all of its services, but was running a revised timetable on Thursday. Hundreds of passengers spent the night at Gatwick airport after more than 400 flights were cancelled – the runway was reopened on Wednesday night but flights were still facing disruption. South East Coast Ambulance Service declared a ‘major incident’ on both days prioritising its calls to reach the most life threatening calls first.”

The piece said more than 1,000 999 calls were received by Sussex Police and the weight of the snow began to bring trees and power cables down, causing black outs across the town. The piece continued: “West Sussex County Council said there was still enough grit – and grounds maintenance and street cleansing staff from Crawley council, who were unable to do their usual jobs, spread grit around the town centre.”

Bin collections were also cancelled.

But, as the gallery below shows, families still decided to make the most of the weather while it lasted.