The self-employed truck driver Niclas Nordström found himself stranded by snow on Sweden’s E22 motorway for an exhausting 20 hours on Wednesday and Thursday. He described these conditions as the most severe he has faced in his 30-year career, according to an interview with The Local.
Nordström, who has operated his own road freight company since the 1990s, anticipated that the traffic would be cleared when he drove onto the E22 on Wednesday. However, along with around 1,000 other drivers, he soon realized his mistake when he came to a standstill near Linderöd around 1:45 PM.
“The reason for the jam had occurred much earlier, so I assumed the police would have already redirected traffic to alternate routes,” the 58-year-old explained. “But I didn’t give it much thought. A little more quick thinking might have prevented this situation and the long queues.”
Roughly 1,000 vehicles were stuck on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad as a blizzard hit the region. The Armed Forces were called to assist in evacuating stranded motorists and delivering food and water to those trapped in their cars.
Nordström’s truck is equipped with a day cab, which lacks a bed, forcing him to sleep upright at the wheel. Despite this, he felt better off than many passengers in smaller vehicles. However, on his way to Lund in Skåne and then back to Olofström in Blekinge, he found himself without food or medicine, relying on the kindness of others.
“There were various individuals around. I made friends with a couple from Holland who helped me out the next day. I mentioned I was very hungry, so they offered me coffee and a sandwich,” he recounted.
Throughout the night, he constantly checked the Swedish Transport Administration’s website for updates on when the road would reopen. “The time kept getting pushed back. It went from 8 PM to midnight, then to 2 AM, and eventually to 2 PM the following day,” he noted.
Ultimately, around 10 AM, the Dutch individual received assistance from a local farmer who cleared a three-meter-wide path through the snow, allowing them to escape the motorway. They drove against traffic, using warning lights, until they reached a passable road.
“We both maneuvered out through the cleared path. While we were technically going against the traffic, there was no traffic, so it wasn’t dangerous. If not for our initiative, we would still be stuck there,” Nordström said. As someone who mainly drives in the southern regions of Skåne and Blekinge, he had never faced snow conditions like those he encountered last Wednesday, emphasizing, “I’ve never experienced anything like this in my 30 years of driving. The last time Skåne saw such severe weather was back in 1979.”
