A FEMALE motorist who was told by the police to abandon her car near the Keepers Pond and walk the rest of the way to Abergavenny during last Thursday’s snowfall has criticised the police’s handling of the situation.

The motorist who wishes to remain anonymous told the Chronicle, “I was travelling from Pontypool last Thursday evening, and because it was raining there, it didn’t cross my mind that it would be snowing on the Keepers. I got that wrong!

“The Blaenavon side seemed ok, but it was only when I got to the top that I noticed how bad the snow was. There were a few cars backed up, and I was sitting in the car toying with the idea of turning around and going up the Heads when a policeman knocked on my window and said I’d have abandon my car and walk.

“Apparently they’d closed the road in both directions as a few vehicles had already gone off the edge and it wasn’t safe.”

The lady added, “I didn’t exactly relish the idea of walking to Govilon, but what else could I do?

“I passed the vehicles that were blocking the road as I walked, but I didn’t see any that had gone over the edge.

“I was a bit disappointed that when I passed the police car near Fiddler’s Elbow, the police just sat in there, poker-faced, without coming out to see if I was ok!

“I was a woman on my own, it was dark, and I was just told to get on with it and make my own way down. You’d think they’d have a 4x4 to escort people. After all, it’s not like we weren’t warned about the snow.”

The motorist added, “In hindsight, I believe if the police had to shut the road, they could have closed it by the Rifleman’s and saved everyone a lot of bother. “Also, when I went to pick up my vehicle the next day, the road was officially closed, but it was passable. So where were the police? The whole episode was a bit of a clown show.”