Self-Employed Truck Driver Stranded by Blizzard
Niclas Nordström, a self-employed truck driver, found himself snowbound on Sweden’s E22 motorway for a staggering 20 hours on Wednesday and Thursday. He described the conditions as the worst he has faced in his 30-year career, according to The Local.
Having operated his own freight business since the 1990s, Nordström mistakenly assumed the traffic jam would have been cleared when he took the E22. He, along with around 1,000 other drivers, discovered their error when they became stuck near Linderöd around 1:45 PM.
“The jam happened quite a while ago, so I thought the police would have already redirected traffic,” the 58-year-old told The Local. “In hindsight, I didn’t think it through properly. A bit more quick thinking could have prevented such long queues.”
The blizzard left up to 1,000 vehicles stranded on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad, prompting the Armed Forces to assist in evacuating stranded motorists and delivering essential supplies like food and water to those still trapped in their vehicles.
Nordström’s truck features a day cab without a bed, forcing him to sleep upright at the wheel. However, his situation was more favorable than those in passenger cars. Despite heading to Lund in Skåne and then home to Olofström in Blekinge, he had no food or medicine onboard and had to rely on others for assistance.
He befriended a couple from Holland who helped him the next day after he mentioned being extremely hungry. They invited him in for coffee and a sandwich. During the night, he continually checked the Swedish Transport Administration’s website for updates on when the road would reopen, but the times kept getting pushed back.
Ultimately, around 10 AM, the Dutch couple received help from a local farmer who cleared a three-meter-wide path through the snow. They then drove against traffic down the opposite lane, activating their warning lights until they reached a passable road.
Nordström, primarily driving in the southern regions of Skåne and Blekinge, had never encountered such severe snow conditions before. “I’ve never been in anything like this in my 30 years of driving. The last time Skåne saw weather this extreme was in 1979,” he remarked.
