HUNDREDS of motorists were left stranded on the A38 for hours last night in freezing temperatures as heavy snow battered the area.

 

Drivers were left stuck on the Newton Abbot-bound carriageway at Haldon Hill for up to seven and a half hours.

 

One man caught up in the snowy-drama was Darren Sweeney, who was trying to get to his home in Newton Abbot from Exeter.

 

Mr Sweeney hit the hold-up at around 3pm and spent much of the afternoon and evening stuck at the bottom of Splatford Split.

 

The delivery driver eventually reached his home nearly eight hours after he set off on his journey.

 

He said: ‘It was all quite unorganised to be fair.

‘I appreciate the task of moving stuck lorries and cars but we weren’t kept informed.

‘The only way of finding out anything was to ask passing police officers, but they only told us standard information.’

 

Mr Sweeney added: ‘There were snow ploughs going up the hill but they got stuck in the traffic as well.

‘It was just very poor because they knew the awful was on its way.

‘Although they stated they were ready and there wouldn’t be a repeat of what happened last time we had snow, it was actually worse this time.’

 

Back in 2010, thousands of motorists were left stuck on Haldon Hill and Telegraph Hill after a heavy snow blizzard caused chaos.

 

Some of the helpless drivers were stranded for nearly seven hours after the snow storm closed the A38 and A380.