Thousands of motorists trapped overnight in cars as Britain wakes up to fresh travel chaos

By James Tozer, Ray Massey, Ryan Kisiel and Sophie Freeman

Abandoned: Commuters in Basingstoke return to their cars this morning after being forced to abandon them on main roads last night after snow and ice caused havoc


-AA reports busiest night in 25 years - 700 breakdowns coming in every hour today

-Councils accused of failing to grit roads properly

-Dozens of Heathrow flights cancelled, Gatwick reopens, delays at Manchester

-Eurostar resumes limited service at 7.40am, blaming cancellations on 'fluffy' snow

-Rail passengers in Surrey, Hampshire, Kent, Wales and Lancashire facing disruption

-2,000 motorists were trapped by the snow on the Basingstoke ring road

-More than 100 people spent the night in a department store in Buckinghamshire

-Overnight lows reach minus 14C in Scottish Highlands, minus 9C in Cheshire

Thousands of motorists were trapped in their cars overnight and scores of vehicles abandoned after snow storms brought Britain's roads and public transport system to a halt.

The Christmas travel nightmare continued today with more snow and ice causing havoc on the roads and further disruption for rail and air services.

Plunging overnight temperatures have transformed many of yesterday's snowfalls into treacherous surfaces, with the Met Office warning of 'widespread icy roads' for most of England and Wales as well as more snowfalls for the southern half of the country.

The lowest overnight temperature recorded was minus 14C (7F) at Tulloch Bridge in the Highlands of Scotland. In England, there was an overnight low of minus 9C (16F) in Woodford, near Stockport in Cheshire.

Travellers also face another raft of train and flight cancellations and delays, although several airports have reopened their runways and Channel Tunnel high-speed Eurostar trains are resuming a restricted service after three days of suspension caused by 'fluffy snow'.

Stranded: Thousands of people were trapped in their cars in Hampshire last night, with many forced to spend the night there after roads became impassable

The AA had its busiest night for breakdowns in 25 years - following the busiest day for ten years yesterday - and said that by 8am today it had around 6,500 breakdowns pending, with 700 coming in every hour.

AA president Edmund King accused local authorities of 'not acting sooner and more thoroughly' to treat ice and snow-bound roads, adding 'some key roads have not been gritted at all'.

Hampshire Police said that at one point last night around 2,000 motorists were trapped by the snow on the Basingstoke ring road.

But by the early hours of this morning that had reduced to about 20.


Snow flurry: Flakes fall on Oxford Street in central London as shoppers continue their last minute Christmas shopping


Twenty mile jams: The M4 in Berkshire saw huge tailbacks and drivers were urged to choose other routes
Elsewhere, in the north east of the county, about 200 vehicles were abandoned or trapped, with the A31 at Four Marks and Ropley badly hit by the weather.

The Alton and Winchester areas also suffered problems.


source: dailymail