Queens fan caught in M74 lorries storm drama

A QUEEN of the South fan who was stuck on the M74 for hours this week after a number of lorries had overturned admitted it was like something from a horror movie. Andy Patterson made the journey from his Renfrewshire home back to watch his boyhood club play Dunfermline Athletic in the Challenge Cup on Tuesday night. However, Andy didn’t make it past Abington after the stretch was closed in both directions because of several fallen HGVs due to the gale force wind conditions. He was stuck in his motor for hours and after finding out the match had been postponed, Andy – when he was allowed – turned back home. Little did Andy know that several Queen of the South players and the match official were also caught in the delays. He said: “I think the overall impact on myself was pretty limited. I even got home early since the football was off. I hope the folk in the overturned vehicles are all okay as clearly they weren’t expecting the weather to be so bad.” Andy headed down south from his work in Paisley and left about 3.15 pm. He stopped briefly at Cairn Lodge services where it was “pretty windy”. Andy got back into his motor and onto the motorway but only got a few miles before he stopped completely just after 4.30 pm. He added: “I heard it was an overturned lorry. The northbound also gradually emptied so must’ve been closed too. “At this point, I was told there was a gust of 114 mph measured at Tinto Hill weather station which was about three miles north of where I was. “I was stationary for just over two hours. When we got let through at about 7 pm or so there were around ten overturned lorries on the southbound side and a couple on the northbound - not including several that had been towed while we were static “I also saw about four fire engines and couple ambulances earlier so it was a clearly a major incident. “It was like something from a zombie horror movie with lorries just scattered all over the place. “I also heard there might be a tree down on the Moffat road and with the game looking in doubt of going ahead, I decided I would head home. “It was a quite scary experience. I do feel lucky that I stopped at the services when I did because I could’ve been in the middle of it. “I got home just past 9 pm, which was earlier than I would’ve got home if the game went ahead, but it was a tiring day.” The match has been rescheduled for next Tuesday where Andy says he will travel down again and hopes for a less dramatic trip back home.