"The minister also faced accusations of
ignoring advice issued in August on how to prevent winter travel chaos, such as ordering trucks into lay-bys to prevent routes being blocked by jack-knifed vehicles."
12/12/10, "
Snow fiasco minister forced out," Express.co.uk, Judith Duffy
[Ed. note: Parts of this post were hacked, ie erased, unable to be put back by me, by the powers that be who apparently dislike freedom of speech. Text from the article should still be available at the link.]
"
Under fire Stewart Stevenson finally fell on his sword last night and quit after
Scotland was paralysed by the worst winter storm in 40 years.
The beleaguered Transport Minister walked away from his job admitting he could have “done much more” to prevent the “frightening” chaos on the roads last week.
Thousands of motorists were trapped on motorways for up to 20 hours in freezing conditions after heavy snow on Monday left the central belt in embarrassing gridlock....
Mr Stevenson was appointed
Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change, when the SNP came to power at Holyrood, in 2007....
But he was under mounting pressure to quit after the heavy snow on Monday led to chaos on roads, rail services and buses.
Many people caught out by the severe weather were forced to spend the night in their vehicles in freezing conditions on the M80, A80 and M876 from Glasgow to Stirling.
The M8,
Scotland’s busiest road, was closed for two days while a 20-mile stretch was cleared of ice and snow.
Mr Stevenson then sparked fury after appearing on the BBC’s Newsnight on Monday evening to insist the Government’s response to the crisis was “first class”.
He subsequently apologised in an emergency statement to Holyrood, but claimed the advice received from forecasters had been inadequate.
However angry officials at the Met Office accused him of ignoring their predictions of heavy snow. It later emerged Mr Stevenson had failed to mention a weather warning which had been issued by forecasters at 8.40pm on Sunday,
The minister also faced accusations of
ignoring advice issued in August on how to prevent winter travel chaos, such as ordering trucks into lay-bys to prevent routes being blocked by jack-knifed vehicles.
Last night, Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie said Mr Salmond and Mr Stevenson had “bowed to the inevitable” amid weak leadership and an absence of direction.
She said: “
Stewart Stevenson has taken the right decision to resign, but for the First Minister and whoever replaces Mr Stevenson there is major work to do to regain public confidence.”
Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray, who had announced plans to bring forward a vote of no confidence yesterday morning, said: “Scotland had lost confidence in the Transport Minister and
- it was only right that he should resign.
“The First Minister should not have stretched the issue out over the last week and acted more
decisively at an earlier stage.”
Tavish Scott, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said the First Minister had to take responsibility for the “shambles” his government is in....
The First Minister will announce today who will assume Mr Stevenson’s responsibilities."
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