A dad has told how his family were forced to spend the night in a school with 100 other stranded motorists after heavy snow forced them to abandon their cars.<br /><br />Mike Smith, 39, was stranded with his partner and three stepkids in Grizedale in the Lake District after a blizzard dumped two and a half foot of white powder on roads.<br /><br />The family were then left stuck in the snow for the next eight hours before police told them to leave their car and seek refuge in a nearby primary school.<br /><br />Mike said a local chip shop donated dozens of portions of fish dinners to drivers before they’d bedded down on the floor of the school’s hall.<br /><br />And he feared they may have to stay two more nights at the school, with six inches of snow expected to fall on the region later today (Sun).<br /><br />His comments come as 2,508 electricity customers were left without power across Cumbria due to heavy snow.<br /><br />He said: “We have to probably wait until tomorrow and dig the cars out, and then probably try and get them back up the hill.<br /><br />"But if it snows again, it will probably be another day after that. <br /><br />“We spent the night in the school, sleeping on the floor, keeping warm. The whole floor was covered in people just sleeping. <br /><br />"They put on the TV for us, so we were watching I’m a Celebrity, Strictly Come Dancing, stuff like that, just to keep people not thinking about it.<br /><br />“And we had fish and chips that were donated to the local primary school. It was just mental, what an experience."<br /><br />Mike, a waiter at Centre Parcs, said his family had gone to the mountainous Grizedale rally stage during the morning from their home in Alston, Cumbria.<br /><br />They had parked with other spectators on the verges of the road before watching the cars take to the rough tracks, which had already been hit with some snow.<br /><br />But when they decided to leave just before noon, fearing the wintry conditions, a blizzard made the narrow roads completely impassable.<br /><br />Mike said: “We got back to the car at 11.40am, and we didn’t leave the mountain until 7.20pm. <br /><br />"I think there are 30 cars still stuck on top of the mountain. It's absolutely mental.<br /><br />“It was just forestry roads where everyone was parking on the verge. A local farmer came and pulled most of the cars out.<br /><br />"But then the police got involved in the evening and advised everyone to abandon their cars and come back down for health and safety reasons.<br /><br />“Mountain Rescue teams were up there as well advising everyone to come back down out the way.<br /><br />“I would say two and a half foot of snow fell, easily. We took it all off the top of the car and within an hour, there was a good seven inches on top of the car again.<br /><br />“Last night, another eight inches fell on top of that as well.”<br /><br />Mike said they'd stayed at Hawkshead Esthwaite primary school, in Ambleside for the night.<br /><br />And while kids and elderly were given soft mats and blankets, he and his partner Sammy Tancock, 38, had to make do without any bedding.<br /><br />He added: “It was different, it wasn’t comfortable.
