Glasgow Council closes every school as big freeze bites

Every school in Glasgow was closed on Wednesday morning after winter weather caused chaos in the city.

Initially, Glasgow City Council said St Catherine’s Primary School and St Raymond’s Pre 5 Assessment Centre would be the only two establishments affected by the big freeze today.

However, a council spokeswoman said it quickly became apparent that hundreds of teachers could not get into work. Furthermore there were widespread transport problems for pupils, problems with school meal provision and transport issues to schools for pupils with special needs.

Therefore, a decision was made at 8am to close all 259 local authority schools. The spokeswoman added that the decision was made for health and safety reasons.

The council stated teachers will look after pupils who managed to make it in to school until parents are able to pick them up. Schools with insufficient staff will be helped with their care of pupils by head office staff and other schools.

Food and drink will also be provided to pupils in attendance.

A statement from Glasgow City Council said: "Our decision to close schools was taken in the interests of the safety of both children and staff.

"We announced the decision as quickly as possible once problems caused by the adverse weather came to light this morning.

"It is a very rare decision for Glasgow City Council to close its schools and is not taken lightly. Our aim would always be to keep them open for as long as possible and the vast majority were open on Monday and Tuesday. However, the safety of children and staff must come first."

Glasgow City Council’s website was also down on Wednesday morning. It is understood this was after many pupils and parents tried to go online determine the situation with the schools.

Transport disruption in the west

Across the west of Scotland, train services have been disrupted. During the day, ScotRail said services to and from Coatbridge Central were cancelled, along with services between Glasgow Queen Street and Cumbernauld direct, Motherwell to Cumbernauld and all services to and from Bellshill.

There have also been delays to several services on Wednesday including Glasgow Central - Gourock, Glasgow Central - Ardrossan Harbour (except for ferry connections), Glasgow Central - Whifflet, Glasgow Queen Street -  Anniesland, Balloch - Springburn, Dalmuir - Larkhall (replacement bus service in place between Larkhall-Hamilton Central), Glasgow Queen Street - Dunblane and Helensburgh/Balloch - Airdrie.

A spokesman from ScotRail said: "We are maintaining as resilient a service as possible when alternative road options are extremely daunting. Customers should continue to check ScotRail's website before setting out and to allow more time for their journeys."

There was also widespread disruption once more on the motorways and local roads again on Wednesday as commuters struggled through the snow.

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