Storm Bram: 'I counted ten lorries on their sides in half a mile - it was scary'

A travelling football fan has described the “scary” moment he spotted ten overturned lorries while stuck on the M74 for seven hours during Storm Bram.

Andy Paterson had been driving from Houston, Renfrewshire, to watch Queen of the South in Dumfries when severe winds caused widespread disruption throughout the country on Tuesday.

The motorway near Abington was closed for around 16 hours as emergency crews responded to multiple HGVs blown over by powerful gusts at around 6pm.

Andy said conditions initially appeared manageable when he joined the motorway in Glasgow.

“It was busy, wet and blowy, but nothing dangerous, just a bit of buffeting,” he said. “By no means the worst I’ve driven in.”

As he crawled forward, Andy, who was driving a small Skoda Fabia, said he saw a “shocking” number of overturned HGVs.

He continued south and reached Cairn Lodge, but said the storm intensified far more quickly than he expected.

“It must have got worse very quickly. It was dark by then, and traffic just slowed to a dead stop between Cairn Lodge and Abington.

“I counted around ten lorries on their sides in the space of maybe half a mile. They weren’t all on the carriageway and some weren’t even facing forward.

“When we were stationary, the gusts were so strong the Tesco lorry in front of me was swaying a good one or two feet at a time. I was honestly glad I was behind it and not beside it.

“It was dark, extremely windy and very wet. There were flashing amber lights and a man in hi-viz shouting ‘Just cars! Go, go!’ as we were waved through. It felt chaotic.

“It was a bit scary, but I’m glad it was just me and didn’t have my family with me.”

Unsure if more trees or vehicles had come down further along the route, Andy left the motorway and made his way home via back roads. He later learned the Queen of the South match had been postponed just ten minutes after kick-off.

He questioned whether stronger weather warnings should have been issued.

“My gut feeling is wind levels like that should have triggered an orange warning. If one had been in place, I wouldn’t have travelled and maybe the HGVs wouldn’t have either. I just don’t think anyone expected it to be that bad, even for a short time.

“It was only between six and seven hours in total,” he said. “Although on a good day I think I could’ve made the outskirts of London in that time.”

Police Scotland confirmed the road reopened on Wednesday morning following recovery work, and that no one was injured.

At the height of Storm Bram, gusts of up to 76mph were recorded in South Uist, with similar conditions reported across Lanarkshire and Dumfries and Galloway.

A yellow warning had been in place across southern Scotland, while the Western Isles were under an amber alert.