Hot TOPICS 
Snow causes havoc for those on the move
(February 02, 2009) MOTORISTS faced huge delays in town and outside it on Monday afternoon when snow arrived in quantity.
By 3pm the snow became a lot thicker and settled very quickly.
A couple of inches that had settled rapidly increased and by 10pm more than five inches had pitched in the town.
The A350 between Warminster and Shaftesbury was blocked by a jack-knifed lorry at Lower Pertwood leading to diversions along the A303 and A36 which became a series of stop start movements.
A car breakdown at the Westbury Road traffic lights on the A350 just out of town added to the rush hour problems.
It took one driver three-and-one half hours to get back from Taunton. Another who set off from Poole at 4pm finally got into Warminster at 8.15pm.
At 5.30pm the town centre was brought to a complete standstill by several incidents.
In the town centre itself a rear end shunt in the Market Place near the Old Bell caused long delays.
A car was badly damaged at the Portway mini-roundabout causing long tail backs.
Several drivers got caught out by the condition of the road outside Woolies when applying their brakes and slid sideways somehow without colliding.
It took 45 minutes to get from the western side of town to the Boreham Road.
One driver gave up trying to get his car out onto Bell Hill leaving his car parked at the roadside. He walked into town through the town park at 7pm and described wading through a foot of snow.
Those relying on public transport could still catch a bus as they managed to keep running but the town's largest taxi company shut up shop at 6.30pm leaving their rivals to cope and customers having a 30 minute wait.
Trains users also faced delays with passengers arriving to catch the 5.18pm Salisbury to Exeter service told the train would not continue west of Salisbury because of terrible weather conditions across south Wiltshire.
Earlier in the day commuters from Warminster headed home after being told South West Trains would run no services east of Basingstoke during the morning.