UK weather: Big Freeze to continue says Met Office

Temperatures across the country dipped further into the minus double digit degrees last night – plunging to as low as -18C in North Yorkshire.

A spokesman for the Met Office told Channel 4 News that Britain will continue to battle bitterly cold weather in the next coming days.

“Looking at Britain with a broad brush – daytime temperatures are going to fail to get about freezing today and tomorrow. Freezing fog and severe frosts will be widespread, with snow cover in Scotland and Northern Ireland,” he said.

A band of snow moving south across Scotland looks set to reach northern England later this afternoon, threatening to bring chaos to the roads as motorists struggle home from work.

The Met Office said there was between 10cm and 40cm of lying snow in the central lowlands, around 32cm in Edinburgh and 11cm in Glasgow.

Airports

Glasgow Airport shut its runway for “essential snow clearing operations” this morning but reopened this afternoon. Edinburgh Airport closed until 6pm and advised passengers flights after 6pm to check with their airlines before travelling. Meanwhile the smaller Inverness airport was shut until midday.

Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport cancelled a handful of flights this morning amid freezing fog and is currently suffering from further delays thanks to late inbound flights.

Gatwick Airport, which was closed for three full days last week, is operating as normal today. However it warned this morning that conditions are foggy, advising passengers to allow plenty of time for their journey to the airport.

Heathrow is also open. A spokesman said “most flights are operating”, adding that some airlines are experiencing cancellations or delays due to snow disruption at other airports.

Pub's 9-day lock in during snowstorm

Two B&B customers and five pub staff were snowed in at one of Britain's highest pubs on the North Yorkshire moors for nine days.

The road to The Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge, near Kirkbymoorside, has finally reopened today after being cut off last Friday by deep snow.

Pub manager Gaynor Dent said the 16th century pub is still surrounded by snowdrifts up to 12 feet high, with JCB's currently digging out the carpark.

Stranded and unable to receive food deliveries, pub staff were forced to dig a tunnel from the back door to the outhouse containing the pub's food freezers outside.

Ms Dent said the pub - which has a turnover of £6,000 on a good day - lost thousands of pounds during this crucial run-up to Christmas. 

The Lion, which has 40 members of staff and on a busy day will serve up to 800 meals, has suffered as coach loads of customers who had booked Christmas lunches were cancelled last week.

"Usually we get the money in now to pay the bills when it's quieter in January and February," she told Channel 4 News. "We've had 12 days of cancellations now, and have lost thousands of pounds."

The staff, however, were unperturbed. "We're used to it - last year we were snowed in for 10 days," Ms Dent said. While she was snowed out of the pub and only managed to return on Saturday, five members of staff – all under the age of 25 – settled in for the big freeze.

"I think they had a few party nights and got stuck into the drinks," Ms Dent said. 

Luckily, with just one B&B couple staying there were free rooms for the staff to sleep in - the couple, from Sheffield, managed to leave on Saturday.

Today, with the road finally open, customers are trickling back in. The only pub for six miles, The Lion Inn is 1,340 feet above sea level and the only pub at the top of the moor – attracting large groups of walkers on a normal day.

Ms Dent said one customer from Sheffield is determined to keep her lunch booking on Wednesday - a lady who plans to celebrate her 101st birthday with her daughter at the pub.

Meanwhile, with snow continuing to sweep Scotland and threatening to drift south, Ms Dent is still waiting for supplies to get through. "One of our drinks suppliers in Scotland can't get to us as there's a whiteout up there," she said. 

"We're hoping deliveries will get through at some stage this week – it's a good job we're used to it."

Motorists

The Highways Agency told Channel 4 News that black ice is the biggest problem for motorists across the country, with A-roads particularly vulnerable due to overhanging vegetation.

Yet road conditions are currently “under control”, with all motorways and A roads open. “We have got 500 salt spreaders and of our 260,000 ton store of salt for the season, we’ve got 225,000 tons left,” Mark Powell from the Highways Agency told Channel 4 News.

“We’ve also got a national reserve of 250,000 tons of salt arriving in the next six weeks which will be made available for local councils,” he added.

The streets in Glasgow were total gridlock. Laura Kennedy, motorist

Last week, the Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond, was accused of “breathtaking complacency” after telling MPs that only 170,000 tons of this reserve salt stockpile had been delivered.

The RAC reported an “unprecedented” 3,000 calls per hour this morning. The busiest areas are Scotland, Leicestershire, East Midlands, Sheffield and the North East – with the most common complaint being problems with car batteries.

RAC’s patrol ambassador advises motorists to switch all the electrics off before starting their cars, and turning the ignition to the ‘on’ position for a few seconds before starting the engine – this will save valuable energy.

Thousands of drivers have been caught in congestion.

It took Laura Kennedy, from Glasgow, more than four hours to drive six miles this afternoon. The 29-year old lawyer told Channel 4 News parts of Scotland’s biggest city were at a standstill: “The streets in Glasgow were total gridlock.

“It seemed like the lights went green but the traffic just didn’t move. I also had to turn the engine off to save fuel because I only had a quarter of a tank left.

“I’m very pleased to be home now and I’ll be working from home tomorrow.”

Railways

ScotRail are warning of disruption to all routes, in particular from Glasgow Central, Edinburgh and Inverness. East Coast are running reduced services to Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

Northern Rail services between Yorkshire and the North East are disrupted, and there are delays on lines run by East Midlands Trains, First Capital Connect to Brighton and the First TransPennine Express.

Eurostar is also reporting adverse weather disruption on their services.

Deaths

At least seven people have died since the onset of the treacherous weather conditions.

Police confirmed today that Peter Andrews, 64, died trying to clear snow from the front of his home yesterday. Mr Andrews was discovered by an ambulance crew outside his home in Darlington, Durham who later reported that he may have slipped while shovelling snow outside his house.

Meanwhile, the body of a 76 year old man was found by security staff at Thorpe Park caravan park in Cleethorpes. Humberside Police said he has not yet been identified, therefore his family have yet to be informed.

Two teenage girls were killed in a collision with a Royal Mail van in Cumbria and two men were killed in a motorway crash on the M62 in Humberside over the weekend.

Schools

Humberside continues to struggle in the cold weather – bearing the brunt of the school closures today.

The Department for Education told Channel 4 News that around 50 schools have closed today in the Yorkshire and Humberside region.

However, it warned that hundreds of schools are expected to close on account of failing heating systems. “A couple of hundred will shut over the next few days – after reporting that their heating systems have broken,” a spokesman said.

Weather forecast

The Met Office said that people in Orkney and Shetland should be prepared for heavy snow and icy roads, while Grampian, the Highlands and Eilean Siar in the Outer Hebrides and Northern Ireland were warned of widespread ice on the road networks.

Today temperatures are expected to plunge as low as minus 13C in central Scotland and parts of the north. Elsewhere, temperatures are to range between -4C and -10C.

The weekend will deliver a brief respite with temperatures rising to as much as 6C or 7C in the south and 8C or 9C in the North West.

However, “beyond that into next week, stronger north and north easterly winds are expected to bring further frost and colder temperatures”, the Met Office spokesman warned.

Snow continues to fall in the north of England, Northern Ireland and central Scotland – with up to 30cm in some spots. The Met Office says this will ease into lighter snow showers later in the week.