Driver in lucky escape as car teeters on bridge edge
The driver of this car had a lucky escape as the car slid off the road and was left hanging precariously over the parapet of a bridge above a river.
As motorists still struggle to cope on ungritted side roads across Shropshire and Mid Wales today, the dangers of the ice and snow were captured by young photographer Liam Cassells of Penybontfawr.
Liam, 13, took the photograph of the vehicle abandoned on the bridge over the River Tanat near Llanrhaeadr, west of Oswestry. He came across the car yesterday.
Liam and his mother Debbie, travelled from Liverpool to visit relatives in Penybontfawr and are now stranded in the Welsh village unable to get back home.
"We were in a relative's car on Monday and came across the vehicle. The driver had an incredibly lucky escape," said Liam.
Although farmers and contractors have been clearing lanes across the area of the snow, many routes remain impassable.
The main road in Weston Rhyn, near Oswestry, was closed because of a fallen tree yesterday with drivers detouring through Chirk Bank. Trees brought down by the heavy snow also closed the A5 in North Wales near the Shropshire border.
Estate roads in towns and villages are still affected. Residents in many areas have taken up shovels to clear roads themselves and parents have been clearing car parks and walkways at schools to keep them open.
Councils in Shropshire towns have begun the task of clearing pavements. Some in Ellesmere were cleared today while in Oswestry workmen were tackling the main pathways into the town with a mini digger.
Among services hit by the weather was the Dial-a-Ride community bus in Oswestry, cancelled today.
With the forecast showing no let up in the cold and ice and snow flurries expected today and tomorrow many Easter events have already been cancelled.
Nationally, thousands of people spent another night without power.
Transport routes remained impassible as deep snow drifts buried roads. The Arctic conditions are thought to have claimed a number of lives.
The body of Gary Windle, 25, was found by a farmer in deep snow in Brierfield, near Burnley, Lancashire on Saturday.
