The self-employed truck driver Niclas Nordström found himself stranded for 20 hours on Sweden’s E22 motorway due to heavy snowfall, describing it as the worst weather he has faced in his 30-year career.
Nordström, who has operated his own freight business since the 1990s, assumed that the traffic would be cleared when he took the E22 on Wednesday. He soon realized his error, along with approximately 1,000 other drivers, when he was halted near Linderöd around 1:45 PM.
“I thought the police would have stopped the traffic long before, but I didn’t think things through properly,” the 58-year-old shared with The Local. “If there had been more quick thinking, we wouldn’t have faced such lengthy queues.”
As blizzard conditions hit the area, nearly 1,000 vehicles became immobilized on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad. The Armed Forces were dispatched to assist stranded motorists, providing food and water.
Nordström’s truck, equipped only with a day cab that lacks a bed, forced him to spend the night sitting upright at the wheel. He was still better off compared to those in passenger vehicles, but he had no food or medicine and relied on help from fellow travelers. “I met a couple from Holland who invited me for coffee and a sandwich after I mentioned I was very hungry,” he noted.
He spent the night refreshing the Swedish Transport Administration’s website, hoping for updates on when the road would reopen. “Each time the time was pushed back—first 8 PM, then midnight, then 2 AM, and ultimately 2 PM the next day,” he recounted.
Eventually, around 10 AM, the Dutch couple received assistance from a local farmer who cleared a three-meter-wide path through the snow, allowing them to exit the motorway. They drove against the traffic flow until they found a passable road. “It was just our initiative that got us out. Otherwise, we might still be stuck there,” Nordström said.
Having primarily driven in southern Sweden, Nordström had never experienced conditions like those he faced on Wednesday. “I’ve never encountered anything like this in my 30 years of driving. There hasn’t been weather this severe in Skåne since 1979,” he remarked.
