The self-employed truck driver, Niclas Nordström, became stranded by snow on Sweden’s E22 motorway for 20 hours on Wednesday and Thursday, describing the conditions as the worst he has faced in his three-decade career.
Since the 1990s, Nordström has operated his own road freight business. He mistakenly believed that the traffic on the E22 would have been cleared when he began his journey on Wednesday. It wasn’t until he and approximately 1,000 other drivers came to a standstill near Linderöd around 1:45 PM that he realized the extent of the situation.
“The cause of the blockage had occurred quite a bit earlier, and I just assumed that the police would have redirected traffic away from the area,” the 58-year-old told The Local. “Looking back, I didn’t think things through. With a bit more foresight, this could have been avoided. The backup wouldn’t have reached such lengths.”
Around 1,000 vehicles were stuck on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad due to a blizzard, prompting the Armed Forces to assist in evacuating people from their cars and providing food and water to those still trapped.
Nordström’s truck, equipped only with a day cab—without a sleeping area—forced him to spend the night sitting upright at the wheel. Fortunately, he was better off than those in passenger vehicles. Although he was en route to Lund in Skåne and then home to Olofström in Blekinge, he had no food or medicine in his truck and relied on the kindness of strangers.
While stranded, he befriended a Dutch couple who helped him the following day after he mentioned his hunger. They invited him for coffee and a sandwich. During the night, he frequently checked the Swedish Transport Administration’s website for updates on when the road would reopen, only to find the timeline continuously pushed back.
Eventually, around 10 AM, the Dutchman received assistance from a local farmer who cleared a three-meter-wide path through the snow, allowing them to escape the motorway. They drove the wrong way down the opposite lane with their warning lights flashing until they reached a clear road.
“Both the Dutchman and I made it out through the opening, heading against the traffic. However, there was no traffic, so it wasn’t risky. Thanks to our own initiative, we managed to leave; otherwise, we might still be stuck there,” said Nordström. Throughout his years driving mostly in Skåne and Blekinge, he had never experienced such extreme snow conditions. “I’ve never faced anything like this in my 30 years. Such severe weather hasn’t hit Skåne since around 1979, when the entire region was completely buried in snow.”
