Stranded German students forced to camp in town hall amid snow chaos
German students forced to spend the night in the town hall after their host families were unable to get through the snow to pick them up
GERMAN students had an extraordinary welcome to Hastings when they were forced to spend last night (Monday) in the town hall after snowy conditions meant their host families were unable to collect them.
Continuous snow throughout the day made many roads in the town impassable, and when a large party of 400 from Senlac Tours arrived in 10 coaches from Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden, many local host families were unable to get to the coach pick-up point, leaving 120 students stranded in sub-zero temperatures after a 15-hour journey.
With no other accommodation readily available, Hastings Borough Council opened up the town hall, and the remaining students, most between 15 and 17 years of age, spent the night camped out in the council chamber, council offices, and even corridors.
Several council staff themselves spent the night in the town hall, along with the teachers, to ensure the students were made as comfortable as possible, providing them with hot drinks and then breakfast this morning.
Kevin Boorman, the council’s head of communications and marketing, said: “I’ve seen the council chamber used for many things, but never this!
“It was quite an adventure for them, for many it was their first trip to England. They were taking pictures of each other in the council chamber.”
As the students are only in England for a week, they continued with their planned trip to London this morning, so have not yet met up with their host families. However it is expected that they will all have a bed to sleep in tonight.
Kevin said: “It’s great that we’ve been able to step in and help, and I know the students, their teachers and the coach drivers really appreciate it.
“They have gone on their way with a really exciting start to their English tour.”
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Weather for Hastings
Friday 24 May 2013
Today
Heavy rain
Temperature: 5 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 5 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North
