Heavy snow causes travel chaos across London and South East » Communities » 24dash.com

Britain is bracing itself for transport chaos after a blanket of snow fell in many areas.

Trains and flights were disrupted in London and the South East and motorists spent hours stranded in their cars in the worst affected areas.

With treacherous conditions during festive preparations, the Government warned members of the public to keep an eye on vulnerable members of communities.

Television presenter Davina McCall was among those stuck on the A21 in Kent for three hours after a lorry blocked the road. "We got wedged in a whole series of cars and it was pelting down with snow," she told BBC Radio 5. "I did call the police after a couple of hours and they came pretty quickly."

A spokesman for Gatwick Airport said 16 incoming flights were diverted to other UK airports due to bad weather and three outgoing flights were cancelled.

"Flights are being diverted to Manchester, Birmingham and other airports as a result of the weather," he said. Passengers are being bussed back to London, he added.

Flights to and from Luton Airport have also been cancelled or diverted.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings for very heavy snowfall in London, the South East and the East of England. London Underground said there are severe delays on the Amersham branch of the Metropolitan Line due to adverse weather.

Severe weather warnings were issued for heavy snow in the North East, Yorkshire and Humber and the East Midlands.

Around 4in of snow fell in parts of East Anglia, making driving treacherous. In Cambridgeshire, high winds caused snowdrifts to form. Teachers said they expected many schools to be closed - the last day of term - giving youngsters an extra day of Christmas holiday.
Northamptonshire and northern parts of Hampshire were also identified as areas likely to wake up to a snowy scenes.

Ambulance officials in the South East urged the public to help by calling 999 only in an emergency and avoiding non-essential car journeys.

Although they were responding to all 999 calls, South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust (Secamb) added that they may not be able to reach people as quickly as normal.

Secamb's director of operations Sue Harris said: "We are responding to all 999 calls that we receive, but the current situation is obviously placing additional pressure on our staff and resources, particularly across the Sussex and Kent areas.

"We have tried and tested plans which we have implemented and would like to reassure the public that everything possible is being done to ensure that we respond to 999 calls as quickly as we can and provide the best possible service for our patients."

Officers at Sussex Police said they received reports of "several dozen" road crashes since midnight, mainly low-speed collisions resulting in minor injuries.

None have involved serious injury or damage, a spokesman said.

Superintendent Steve Barry, of the force's road policing unit, said: "The good news so far, it seems that people have taken heed of the weather warning and the general advice to stay off the roads unless really necessary.

"It also seems that those who are driving have been doing so with proper care.

"The bad news, it is due to get worse today. We continue to encourage people to stay off the roads, particularly around rural areas and hills."

Heavy snowfall in West Sussex led to Gatwick Airport being shut from 12.15am until 7.33am today. A total of 18 flights had to be cancelled.

Gatwick has just been taken over by US-based investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners.

Asked today why the airport has to shut despite the fact that heavy snowfall had been correctly and widely forecast, a Gatwick spokesman said: "We had much more snow here than in other areas. It has taken time to clear the runway."

The spokesman went on: "Flights are now operating normally again although some might be diverted."

Luton Airport remained closed until 10am, with a number of easyJet flights affected including flights to Glasgow, Paris, Geneva and Nice.

Heathrow Airport in west London was operating normally, with only "minor delays" to flights.

Rail travellers also faced delays today. National Express East Anglia cancelled several services in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire while there were no services on London Overground between Camden Road and Stratford in east London.

There were also rail delays in the York area and on services run by the Southern train company because of a broken-down train at Penshurst in Kent.

Brighton and Hove Buses said most of its services were suspended.

The Highways Agency, which is responsible for England's motorways and major A roads, said today: "Road users are advised to consider whether their journey is essential, and if possible to delay setting out until the conditions improve. If you have to travel, be prepared with a severe weather emergency kit and keep up to date with the road and weather conditions while you are travelling."

The agency said its winter fleet had been treating roads with salt wherever freezing conditions were forecast, but it reminded road users that even when roads had been treated it was important to drive appropriately for the conditions.

The agency went on: "We will continue to treat the roads and clear snow until the conditions improve. Where incidents occur, our traffic officers and maintenance contractors will work with the emergency services and local authorities as appropriate to ensure that routes are re-opened as soon as it is safe to do so."

Hazardous driving conditions will continue throughout the day with temperatures unlikely to rise above freezing across swathes of the UK, forecasters warned.

Gemma Plumb, of MeteoGroup UK, the weather arm of the Press Association, said temperatures had plunged as low as -6.3C (21F) in parts of Scotland last night.

Up to 12cm (4.7in) of snow had fallen in Suffolk, she added.

Ms Plumb said: "Scotland and Wales will see temperatures remain below freezing throughout the day. It may raise to a couple of degrees in London but the north-easterly wind will make it feel much, much colder.

"Most of the snow is falling in East Anglia, Essex and Kent - and will continue to do so.

"There has also been a reported 12cm (4.7ins) of snowfall in Wattisham, Suffolk."

easyJet said that it had cancelled all its flights at Gatwick until "11am at least" and had also axed its flights at Luton until 11am.

A spokesman went on: "We are operating at Stansted and Manchester but there have been cancellations at both airports."

Waste and recycling collections were suspended in south Bedfordshire after the heavy snowfall.

Central Bedfordshire Council said teams would catch up on today's collections tomorrow and through the beginning of next week.

Residents were advised that if their bin had not been collected from today, to leave their bins out until it is collected over tomorrow and the start of next week.

The council said collections were carrying on in the north of the county at the moment, but some streets are not accessible and teams are hoping to return to these roads today or tomorrow.

A number of schools were also closed in Central Bedfordshire, and parents were advised to check details on the council's website.

A spokesman said the council's Customer Service Centres remained operational.

He said: "The majority of Central Bedfordshire Council staff have made it in to work to enable an uninterrupted service to be provided to our customers

"Telephone services should not be adversely affected, although we are expecting high call volumes due to the weather conditions."

In Brighton and Hove, 200 tonnes of salt were laid, and all main roads and bus routes in the city were cleared.

Gritters started the first run yesterday at 4pm and continued throughout the night. Ploughs were used from midnight, using three vehicles on routes until 2am.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said: "The snow is falling again and the council is assessing whether the level of salt on the roads will be sufficient to keep the routes open despite additional snowfall.

"There is a large amount of salt on the network and temperatures are climbing again.

"As traffic increases, it will help to track the salt in and maintain a solution, but there will need to be a judgment about whether this will be sufficient

"Teams are on standby to begin gritting again."

Cases at Lewes and Hove Crown Courts were cancelled today, but bus services in Brighton and Hove are slowly recommencing.

Street cleansing operations were suspended in the city, along with refuse and recycling and more than 30 schools were closed.

The city council spokesman said they were reviewing the street cleansing operation this afternoon and hoped to restart as normal over the weekend.

Kent County Council said approximately 350 schools were closed across the county and Medway.

Hardest-hit was mid and west Kent, where the A229 and A249 at Bluebell Hill and Detling Hill were closed following heavy snow showers.

A council spokesman said: "We had a large amount of snow between 10.30pm and midnight causing roads to be closed despite being salted.

"Drivers were attempting to go up and down and just got stuck due to the volume of snow which fell in such a short time."

Commuters faced delays and cancellations on some Southeastern train services as routes from London to the coast, including Dover, Folkestone and Hastings were hit by snow.

Heavy snowfall also caused power supply problems in some areas, particularly in the east of England.

EDF Energy Networks said staff were working to resolve faults, but poor travel conditions were making it difficult for engineers to patrol overhead lines and reach and repair faults in many areas.

A spokesman said: "We appreciate how difficult it can be to lose power, especially in cold weather, and would like to apologise for the inconvenience this is causing."

In Buckinghamshire, 155 schools were closed today.

Only 79 remained open for the last day of term.

Richard Wells, of Buckinghamshire County Council, said 25 salting lorries had been out on all the main roads, which were now passable.

"There were some problems with high winds blowing snow from fields on to roads after salting, but now that traffic is moving to work in the salt, this is no longer an issue," he said.

An estimated 500 tonnes of salt have been used so far on the county's main routes.

Snow was worse in the south and east of the county, where it was said to be about 8cm (3.15 inches) deep in places.

"All main routes are being salted regularly, but people should be cautious on minor roads that are untreated," Mr Wells added.

The big freeze forced the closure of about 10 schools in Harrow, north London, the local council said.

Harrow Council said it put down 165 tonnes of salt in seven runs across the borough.

The authority's deputy leader Susan Hall said: "North London was certainly hit by the overnight downfall but, by working in relays, we have kept roads clear and kept our streets safe."

Institution of Civil Engineers director general Tom Foulkes said: "The disruption caused by the overnight snowfall yet again demonstrates how vulnerable our critical infrastructure networks are when faced with severe weather conditions.

"It also shows how dependent we are on these networks, especially transport, and how quickly things can come to a stand still when they fail.

"We can't stop forces of nature, but we can ensure that we protect, maintain and invest in our transport infrastructure so our networks are more resilient. We can also think strategically about how we can create some spare capacity in the system to make our networks less vulnerable to disruption in these situations."

Kent Police said its communications centre has dealt with more than 5,500 calls in the last 12 hours.

The force urged people to call in only if it is a matter of safety or an emergency.

Chief Superintendent Matthew Nix said: "We want to ensure we give the correct priority to calls and would therefore urge people not to ring in unless there is a threat to life or another safety issue.

"In the last 12 hours we have experienced double the number of calls we usually receive."

In Surrey, 58 schools were closed while another six were shut in Oxfordshire and children were being turned away from three primaries in Berkshire.

Scotland has so far escaped the worst of the bad weather which led to chaos elsewhere in the UK.

Central and eastern parts of Scotland had some snowfall overnight.

The Lothians had between 2cm and 5cm (two inches) of snow, with some of it lingering on the ground throughout the morning.

But emergency services reported no major weather-related incidents on the roads across Scotland.

The situation could change over the weekend as forecasters said a new batch of snow will leave much of Scotland covered by the end of tomorrow.

Julian Mayes, a senior forecaster with MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "By the end of tomorrow, most of Scotland will have several centimetres of snow on the ground."

Police and fire brigades said little weather-related trouble occurred on Scotland's roads today.

Grampian Police said the B974 Cairn O'Mount road was closed overnight but has now reopened.

A spokesman for Fife Police said motorists appeared to be paying attention to warnings to keep their speed down.

A spokesman for Transport Scotland said it was an "average mid-winter day" on the roads.

Flights at Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh airports were unaffected by the weather in Scotland, but all three airports reported delays to flights to and from the worst-hit areas, London in particular.

A spokesman for airport operator BAA at Edinburgh said Amsterdam and Scandinavian services were also disrupted.

More than 700 schools were closed due to adverse weather conditions across East Anglia.

A spokesman from Essex County Council said 279 schools were forced to close while 219 were shut in Suffolk.

There were 135 schools shut this morning in Norfolk and a further 10 were expected to shut early this afternoon.

Cambridgeshire County Council said that more than 100 schools could not open this morning and more closed at lunchtime.

In Kent this afternoon, the coastbound M20 was experiencing severe congestion between Junctions 3 and 7, but the London-bound carriageways were free flowing.

The M2 was clear of incidents, the A21 was open but slow moving but the
A2 was partially closed at Watling Hill, a Kent Police spokesman said.

Mr Nix said: "Driving conditions are hazardous so please do not travel unless your journey is absolutely necessary.

"The snow is heavy in Maidstone, Medway, Tunbridge Wells and in North Kent.

"Temperatures are forecast to fall below freezing tonight which will make roads icy and even more dangerous.

"Also, Kent Police reminds motorists not to use the hard shoulder on major roads as this prevents the emergency services from attending urgent incidents and can put lives at risk."

A major road in Northamptonshire was brought to a standstill by the snowy conditions.

Motorists were advised to avoid the A14 after both westbound and eastbound carriageways were blocked by vehicles which had either broken down or been involved in minor collisions.

Five lorries were also stuck in a dip on the A509 between Wellingborough and Kettering, which was later cleared.

Police said other roads across the county were heavily congested but moving and motorists were advised to leave plenty of time for their journeys and drive appropriately for the conditions.

The county council said nearly 100 schools were closed across Northamptonshire and school transport was cancelled in Higham Ferrers, Rushden, Oundle and Raunds.

Some libraries were set to close early because of the weather and the council said its Meals on Wheels team was contacting all customers in the east of the county to check their provisions due to unsafe driving conditions surrounding villages in the area.

On its website, the council also said its highways service provider MGWSP had its entire fleet of 27 gritters out around the county.

The first run was carried out at 6pm last night and, since then, the fleet had been out a further three times, with each run taking three hours.

Snow ploughs were also fixed to ensure roads were cleared and farmers were mobilised to help in rural areas.

The council said MGWSP had received a forecast at 12.30pm today saying there would be light showers of snow overnight and the possibility of heavier snow on Saturday night.

It was due to assess the situation on an hourly basis before deciding what action to take this evening.