I read in a tabloid newspaper that abandoned cars lay in their droves along the A66 near Brough, at the foot of the Cumbrian Pennines on Friday night. Apparently blizzards were raging all night and many of the cars were still there on Saturday morning.

Which is very odd. You see I was driving along that exact stretch of road on Friday night. No snow on the road itself, no blizzards and no abandoned cars. That had all happened before I got there-in the morning and afternoon. By the time I was scrambled to go up there with a Sunday Telegraph reporter,snow ploughs had been at work, the stranded motorists were already re-united with their cars and settling in for the evening at various pubs and hotels in the area. No sign of them at Bowes village hall either where the TV had reported that 'hundreds of them had arrived and were spending the night there'.
Trouble is the editor had seen those over enthusiastic TV reports and was expecting great photos and a fantastic story about the dramatic rescue of 200 motorists.
Sometimes reality sucks !!