Minister grilled over snow chaos

12 April 2012

A Government minister is to face questions from a Commons select committee about the disruption to transport caused by heavy snow at the beginning of last month.

Transport Minister Paul Clark will give evidence to the House of Commons Transport Committee.

Roads, airports and public transport, particularly in south east England, were badly affected by the snowfalls of February 1 and 2, with central London getting its worst conditions since 1991.

Announcing the reason for the MPs' inquiry last month, committee chairman Louise Ellman said: "We were concerned by the level of disruption to transport across the country caused by the recent snow. We will consider why the snow had such a serious impact and what can be done to prevent such a high level of disruption in future."

She said London Mayor Boris Johnson had been asked to attend a later hearing of the committee.

Earlier this month the London Assembly Transport Committee published a report on how the capital's agencies responded to the extreme weather.

The report said a lack of preparation and co-ordination hampered efforts to keep transport running in London, with no buses being able to operate on Monday February 2.

The report also questioned whether Mr Johnson could have been informed of the transport problems earlier.

It also said there did not appear to be any single person in charge of the response to the bad weather, as there would have been in the event of a major incident such as a terrorist attack.

The report also said some local authorities turned down requests by the London Ambulance Service to clear access routes to ambulance stations.

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