Self-Employed Truck Driver Experiences 20-Hour Ordeal in Blizzard
Niclas Nordström, a self-employed truck driver, endured a grueling 20 hours trapped by snow on Sweden’s E22 motorway on Wednesday and Thursday, stating it was the worst weather he has faced in his three-decade career.
Having operated his own road freight business since the 1990s, Nordström made the miscalculation of thinking the traffic congestion would be cleared when he took the E22 on Wednesday. He realized the error, along with about 1,000 other drivers, when he got stuck near Linderöd around 1:45 PM.
“I assumed the police would have stopped the traffic and rerouted it onto other roads,” the 58-year-old explained. “I didn’t think it through. If there had been quicker decision-making, this wouldn’t have happened and the queues would have been shorter.”
During the blizzard, as many as 1,000 vehicles were stranded on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad. The Armed Forces were called in to assist with evacuations and to deliver food and water to those trapped.
Nordström’s truck, equipped only with a day cab, meant he had to sleep upright at the wheel, but he considered himself better off than those in passenger cars. On his journey to Lund in Skåne and then back home to Olofström in Blekinge county, he had no food or medication, relying instead on the kindness of others for help.
Amidst the congestion, he formed a bond with a Dutch couple who offered him a warm drink and a sandwich after he expressed his hunger. Throughout the night, he frequently checked the Swedish Transport Administration’s website for road updates, only to find the reopening time continuously postponed.
Ultimately, around 10 AM, he and the Dutchman received assistance from a local farmer who cleared a path through the snow. The two then drove against traffic along the cleared route until they found a road that was passable.
Nordström noted that he has never encountered such severe weather conditions in his years of driving, recalling, “I’ve never experienced anything like this in my 30 years. Skåne hasn’t faced such terrible weather since 1979 when it was completely snowed in.”
