Weather: Edinburgh commuters in hour-long delays

EDINBURGH commuters faced the second longest delays in the UK during rush hour this morning with drivers stuck for more than 60 minutes on one of the main routes into the capital.

• Edinburgh commuters face delays in excess of an hour on A9 between M9 and city, the second worst delay in UK

• Kent is worst affected in the country, with gridlocked motorists facing 67-minute delay

Data from satellite navigation firm Tom Tom recorded a 66 minute delay on the A90 between the M9 and city with queues stretching to three miles.

Kent was the worst affected region with motorists gridlocked for 67 minutes in stationary traffic snaking back 12 miles on the M2 between J5 and J1.

Across the UK at 8.40am today there were 2,400 miles of tailbacks, causing 258 hours of delays in total.

In Scotland a broken down HGV on the A90 at Echline blocked one lane northbound south of the Forth Road Bridge this morning while one lane of the M8 eastbound at the Livingston junction was closed due to an earlier accident.

Meanwhile hundreds of drivers were stranded overnight in freezing conditions on the M23 in Sussex and the A23 in Kent, with many people abandoned their vehicles.

Anger about untreated roads continued with former Bucks Fizz star Cheryl Baker complaining about a lack of gritters after she spent ten hours instead of one trying to get through snow and ice to Brighton yesterday.