Wales: Police seize ‘drifting’ cars amid snow disruption

Snow has fallen across much of Wales causing travel disruption, with a yellow weather warning for snow and ice in place.

Gwent Police seized two vehicles after they deliberately drifted in the snow in Newport, and cars were seen doing the same in Oakdale, with officers warning that dangerous driving “will not be tolerated”.

North Wales Police advised people to “drive to the prevailing conditions”, after a number of crashes on the A55 at Llanddulas, Conwy county, due to “extremely poor” weather.

Some sporting fixtures were cancelled, and there appeared to have been some panic buying with reports of milk running out in some shops.

A stranded lorry closed the A44 in both directions at Llangurig in Powys and Lovesgrove roundabout in Capel Dewi and the A469 in Caerphilly was closed, but both have since been reopened.

All roads affected by snow and ice had reopened by midday on Sunday, but travellers were still advised to drive with caution.

Rail passengers were also asked to check before travelling as a landslip in Gobowen, Shropshire, closed the Shrewbury line towards Wrexham, with buses running instead, according to Transport for Wales.

Two flights were diverted to Cardiff Airport after Bristol Airport suspended its operations because of the weather. But Cardiff Airport said it was “not expecting any operational disruption” with flights continuing as normal.

The Met Office lifted an amber weather warning in north Wales at midday.

However, a yellow snow and ice warning is in place for the rest of Sunday covering Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Powys and Wrexham.

It said that people in affected areas should expect the chance of power cuts and possible travel delays on roads with some stranded vehicles and passengers, along with delayed or cancelled rail and air travel.

There is a separate yellow rain warning covering parts of south, mid and west Wales until 06:00 GMT on Monday, with the risk of heavy rain and thawing snow leading to some flooding in places.

There are no flood warnings in force, but there are five flood alerts across several catchments including Vyrnwy, lower Severn, lower Dee, River Dee, Nant-Y-Fendrod and Nant Bran.

Chris Carnell, from Caerphilly, said the road between Pennar Lane, Newbridge, and Coed Duon View, Pentwynmawr was closed on Saturday night because of a bus crash. A photo showed a bus skewed across the snowy road, blocking it.

Gwent Police posted on Facebook that there were diversions on that road.

Despite advice to be careful while travelling on Saturday, there were reports of drivers deliberately drifting their cars in the snow in Oakdale, Caerphilly county, and Newport.

Gwent Police seized two vehicles for “drifting around dangerously” in poor conditions in Spytty, Newport, on Saturday evening.

In a statement on X, the police said that “dangerous, careless or anti-social driving will not be tolerated in Gwent”.

There appeared to have been some panic buying in stores in Brynmawr in Blaenau Gwent too, as Katy Rees said “there wasn’t any milk in the shops” on Saturday, so she had to try again.

Ms Rees said she hoped the slush did not turn to ice which would make it harder for people to get out.

Parts of Wales have a yellow rain warning in place until 06:00AM GMT on Monday, with heavy rain and thawing snow potentially leading to flooding in some places.

The Met Office warns that:

• Power cuts may occur, which could affect other services, such as mobile phone coverage

• Travel delays on roads are likely, stranding some vehicles and passengers

• Some road closures and longer journey times possible

• Some delays and cancellations to bus, rail and air travel are likely

• Rural communities could become cut off

• Untreated pavements and cycle paths likely to be impassable

Public Health Wales has issued cold weather advice and guidance ahead of the weekend weather warnings on its social media channels.

Natural Resources Wales said its officers were prepared for potential river impacts from the snow and rain.