Fife Weather: Police say '˜do not travel'

Police Scotland say they have dealt with hundreds of road incidents overnight, with many people across the country being trapped in cars overnight.
It's been rough on Fife roads.It's been rough on Fife roads.
It's been rough on Fife roads.

While most transport, education, and council facilities are closed today, the red warning is in place until at least 10am, however, an amber warning will continue until at least 6pm tonight.

This means there is still significant risk to those venruting out.

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Police Scotland’s Chief Superintendent Stewart Carle, Head of Road Policing said: “Over night and into this morning Police Scotland and other emergency services have dealt with literally hundreds of incidents on the roads across the country and continue to do so with a number of closures due to stranded HGVs and cars. There’s also been considerable disruption to other modes of transport including air and rail.

The coastal road to Kinghorn is littered with abandoned cars.The coastal road to Kinghorn is littered with abandoned cars.
The coastal road to Kinghorn is littered with abandoned cars.

“We can’t stress enough that all travel should be avoided unless it’s essential being absolutely necessary and extremely important. Employers and public services need to carefully consider how that criteria meets their urgent business needs.

“The warning covers the commuter periods both this evening and tomorrow morning, and so we would ask people to think very carefully about making alternative arrangements for these times and to consider whether they really need to make that journey, particularly on the road network which may become overwhelmed as people leave work early to beat the storm. We’d urge employers to be as flexible as possible in terms of their staff perhaps not being able being able to come to their normal places of work and to consider alternatives.

“As far as this afternoon is concerned, we’d ask people to think seriously about how they may be getting home either before or during the time of the Red warning as safely as possible.

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“Police Scotland’s national Multi Agency Command Centre at Bilston, is co-ordinating our emergency response across all Local Policing Divisions in Scotland and will continue to do throughout the next 48 hours. Please help us by tuning in to broadcasts and heed the travel and other safety advice to stay safe during this period.”

The coastal road to Kinghorn is littered with abandoned cars.The coastal road to Kinghorn is littered with abandoned cars.
The coastal road to Kinghorn is littered with abandoned cars.

Significant snow falls across the Kingdom are bringing major disruption.

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In Pictures: Snow scenes in Kirkcaldy

The list of closures is already lengthy:

All schools will be shut on Thursday.

Fife College has closed all campuses.

Fife Cultural Trust has closed all its libraries, theatres and museums.
Fife sports and Leisure Trust has closed all its facilities.

All recycling centres are closed.

Maggie’s Fife cancer care centre is closed on Thursday.

Non-essential appointments and visits are likely to be cancelled.

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Stagecoach says all bus services in Fife have been suspended until at least 10am and will not operate early morning journeys on Thursday, but they will review the conditions at 6am tomorrow.

ScotRail has cancelled all services through Fife. For more info check www.journeycheck.com/scotrailThe council’s contact centre is operating an emergency service only, including the community alarm service.

Residents are asked to go online to check for advice and ask questions – and ONLY call a council number if absolutely necessary, to make sure the most vulnerable people and those in emergency situations can get through.

Meals on wheels managed to reach all clients today and will endeavour to do the same tomorrow.

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Steve Grimmond, Fife Council’s chief executive, said: “We’re having to take unprecedented actions in the face of the red alert.

“Heavy and prolonged snow showers are upon us with the Met Office telling us as much as 20-30cm - even 40cm of snow could be lying in places by mid-morning Thursday.

“We have been gritting all day, and staff from a range of council teams have also been out clearing snow and laying grit.

“We’ll continue to run the gritting fleet as long as it’s safe to do so, but we cannot contend with recurring heavy snowfalls.

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“I want to thank employees who have been out and about in freezing temperatures to do what they can to keep communities open and vital services, such as meals on wheels running.”

The show by Madness singer Suggs which was sheduled to take place at the Alhambra Theatre tonight has been called off.The Bob Dylan Band have been forced to cancel their Lochgelly Theatre gig on Saturday, but they are also set to play the Adam Smith Theatre on Saturday, July 14