Concerns over lack of 999 phones on Snake Pass
POLICE have joined in raising concerns over a lack of mobile reception or emergency phones on parts of the A57 Snake Pass between Sheffield and Manchester.
They say they share the worries of drivers whose vehicles have broken down on the trans-Pennine road and cannot call for help because the Peak District National Park Authority does not allow mobile phone masts near the summit to protect the landscape.
One motorist, Emma Hollingworth, aged 34, of Ecclesall, was stranded for almost two hours with daughter Charlotte, four, and son George, eight months. Her husband had to run two miles to the Snake Pass Inn to make a phone call.
Emma said: "If this had been the middle of winter we would have been in real danger. When people break down and aren't prepared with food or the right clothing there is every chance they could die.
"When the recovery arrived they told us of people who had gone blue with cold and needed medical treatment. I hope someone acts before there is a fatality."
Another motorist, Sue Carr, 29, from Sheffield, but now living in Glossop, also broke down near the summit.
She said: "The Snake Pass is dangerous to drive on, let alone walk on, and it was beginning to get dark. A lone female, I was forced to do what the police always warn against and hitch-hike.
"Thankfully, my lift was a true gentleman who dropped me at the door of the Snake Pass Inn. Although I didn't think it at the time, I was lucky."
PC Gary Cooke, traffic management officer for Derbyshire Police, said: "From a road safety and casualty reduction point of view, we have concerns. The answer is mobile phone masts but we have to take on board it's a national park."
He said even the police used to have a radio blackout on the road but a new system means coverage can be adjusted to ensure officers keep in contact.
A Peak District National Park Authority spokeswoman said: "Where public safety is a factor we do as much as we can to accommodate mobile phone masts where they do not harm such important landscapes as Snake Summit."
The authority said motorway-style roadside emergency phones do not need planning permission and could be erected by Derbyshire County Council, but the council said it does not provide emergency phones
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Weather for Sheffield
Tuesday 07 February 2012
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