Motorists hit by heavy snowfall in North

Chaos and treacherous road conditions hit travellers across the North today after heavy overnight snowfalls.

Official advice was for people to stay at home unless their journey was absolutely necessary.

The Roads Service admitted conditions were “horrendous” despite their efforts with gritters and snow ploughs throughout the night.

George Best Belfast City Airport was closed, flights were affected at Belfast International Airport, many bus services were at a standstill and numerous schools were closed for the day.

After a foot of snow or more in many areas, weathermen warned of another band of snow to come during the day before rain is expected to bring relief by nightfall.

Denis Wilson, of the Road Service, said: “Things are horrendous at the moment. We had to struggle last night to keep the arterial roads open. At one stage, we cut right back to trying to keep the motorways and trunk roads open.”

Snow had been expected but not the amount that fell.

“It only takes a few inches of snow to cause chaos on the roads,” he said.

Amid mounting criticism of Road Service efforts which did not stop many motorists having to abandon their cars, Mr Wilson said: “We are making no bones about it. The roads are in a terrible condition in and around the Belfast area at the moment and drivers can expect to experience severe disruption on their journeys in this morning.

“There are lessons to be learned from a night like last night and we will be sitting down and finding out what we got right and wrong.”

Vehicles remained abandoned at roadsides by motorists who gave up on efforts to drive home last night. One of the worst-affected routes was the main M1/A1 linking Belfast to the border and on to Dublin.

Farmers went out with tractors to try to help motorists but many gave up and booked into B&Bs or took up offers of refuge in people’s homes.

On top of the snow, a thunderstorm cut electricity supplies to thousands of homes for several hours.

Northern Ireland Electricity said 9,000 consumers in the Newcastle, Castlewellan areas of Co Down were cut off and 5,000 in Lisburn, Co Antrim.

After engineers struggled to work through the night, all but a few hundred were reconnected.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland warned motorists to keep off the roads in “high country” but said main routes in the province were passable with care.

The M2 motorway into Belfast from Co Antrim had a 20mph speed limit imposed along its entire length amid warnings that it was re-freezing.

One main route into Belfast was blocked when a gritter lorry got stuck.