By Savannah Kuras, CNN • Updated 19th October 2016
Two snowplows quickly cleared the way for frightened passengers inside a stranded England pub.
Rose and John Dawson of Lewes, Sussex, decided to pop into the Black Sheep Pub, in nearby Horsham, on a warm Sunday afternoon.
Mum had previously told them to be careful because of a forecast of heavy snowfall. The journey to the pub might take a while. But there was no sign of the “big white stuff.”
This enticed them to avoid the traffic and head back home.
When they arrived back at their house at 9:30 p.m., snow already on the ground.
Some cars in their driveways had snow wedged in the windshield and dashboards. And though they had a shovel, it was not enough.
“They couldn’t dig (out) their cars,” Janet Dacre, an eyewitness, told BBC News.
Rose says it was “as white as a sheet of (paper). It was surreal.”
Janet saw two ploughs outside the pub. She quickly tracked down the owner, Barry Jellico, who said that a plow had blown on the road so he had parked the vehicle back up.
That’s when Jellico realized that people were trapped inside the pub.
Jellico summoned the ploughs immediately.
Rose believes the plows helped the group while their drivers mucked out the yard with rocks and shovels. The two ploughs were also a help by helping those stuck on the pub.
“The ploughs pulled over in the car park,” said Rose. “We all sat there and were waiting for the plough to come back and they came and helped us shovel and clear the way.”
Joy to fans
The result was one of the first happy endings to a snow plow story after a Twitter user shared the story.
“It was pretty much pitch black in here,” said Rose.
It took time to clear a path around the bar and on to the door.
“They pushed us all out through the garden and (we had) a bit of a walk home,” said Rose.
She said that they all laughed at the playful hark back to the winter, perhaps a welcome break from the long summer.
Finally there was relief.
“Everyone was chattering about it, saying it’s the most amazing thing they’ve ever seen and ‘it’s brilliant we’re going home.’ Everything was looking bright again.”
The pub owner made it home, too.
In the pub where she found her were perhaps other travelers who were too scared to get back on the road to London, afraid of possible avalanches or even simply looking for warmer weather.
Carolyn White of Liverpool, England, said a friend dropped her home.
“We had some Christmas shopping to do and I didn’t have the heart to leave my son” who was with her.
She thought it had been “crazy” to be stuck there, with the snowy stuff, but said, “you can’t let it affect your life.”
Snow in England has been forecast through the day on Monday with snow in Scotland and northern England too.
At this stage the safety of travelers is being monitored by the Met Office — the equivalent of the U.S. National Weather Service — which said that because the layers of snow are mixed with rain or rain and sleet — “it is still possible some places could see heavy falls over the next 24 hours.”
With winter fast approaching, travelers are anticipating interesting weather in their home country.
“It is my first time doing this,” said Rose. “I am not sure when it is coming but I am not going to do it again.”