AN ULSTER Unionist councillor has said he was "just unlucky" after being stuck in the same spot on a motorway in England for more than 12 hours and missing two flights in the process.
Mark Cosgrove, who runs a transport company and is a UUP councillor in Antrim and Newtownabbey, was stranded on the M62 between Bradford and Manchester on Thursday night.
Police have said that at one point, 3,500 people were trapped in their vehicles on the motorway.
Snow and gale force winds led to the closure of the motorway, with officials ending the jam by cutting through the central reservation and requesting that motorists do U-turns.
Mr Cosgrove said that he left Bradford at 4pm on Thursday to travel the approximately 40-mile journey to Manchester Airport for a flight at 6.40pm.
"I travelled about 10 to 15 miles with no problems....and then by about 5.30pm it was bumper to bumper....I realised I wasn't going to get my flight," he told the BBC.
"I then got stuck there without moving once until about 5.40am."
Having missed his initial flight home, Mr Cosgrove was hopeful he wouldn't be stranded too long and booked to travel from Liverpool on Friday morning instead - but his night on the M62 meant he also missed that flight.
"I was just unlucky. You hear about this on the news but you don't expect to be stuck," he said revealing he had no food or water supplies during his time stuck in traffic.
"A packet of Tayto cheese and onion crisps would have gone down well," he joked.
