Thousands stranded as snow grips Britain

Thousands of people were left stranded as the heaviest snowfall to hit the UK in 18 years swept across the country today, causing travel chaos and closing thousands of schools.

Air, rail and road services were all severely disrupted as Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the authorities were doing “everything in our power” to ensure the resumption of key transport links.

An army of snow ploughs and gritters were working round-the-clock to clear roads as much of the UK was blanketed in snow.

Major airports closed runways and all British Airways flights from Heathrow Airport were cancelled until 5pm, as were all bus services in London and dozens of trains during the morning rush hour.

On the London Underground, 10 of the 11 lines were either completely or partly suspended as the “quantity of snowfall” disrupted services, a Transport for London spokesman said

One snapshot survey of more than 300 employers found one in five adults stayed away from work because of the extreme weather.

Speaking at a press conference with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the Foreign Office in London, Mr Brown said: “We are doing everything in our power to ensure that the services – road, rail and airports – are open as quickly as possible and we are continuously monitoring this throughout the day.”

London mayor Boris Johnson later suspended the city’s congestion charge as a gesture of thanks to workers who were trying to keep the capital moving.

Motorists, who were warned only to make essential journeys, were caught in tailbacks of more than 50 miles and queues of up to two-and-a-half hours as they battled against the heavy snow across the country.

Helen Chivers, a forecaster with the Met Office, said the last time the UK saw such widespread snowfall was in February 1991.

“And we’re going to get more,” she said.

A large area of sleet and snow showers was moving out of France on its way to the UK.

“It’s winter for a change,” she said.

"The last two have been really mild, really wet and really windy. “We don’t get this very often.”

More than a thousand primary and secondary schools were forced to shut their doors due to the adverse weather conditions. Schools in southern England were among the worst affected.

At Heathrow Airport, a Cyprus Airways flight, CY 332, from Larnaca strayed onto a grassed area while taxiing to the terminal building after landing shortly after 8.30am. None of the passengers were injured.

Both of the airport’s runways were temporarily closed before one later re-opened and passengers faced severe delays and disruption at airports across the country.

A number of train services linking London and the south coast were also delayed or cancelled as snow drifted on to the tracks.

Eurostar said it was operating services between the UK and the Continent but that they were subject to possible delays.

The snow also caused travel chaos across the country with numerous collisions and “treacherous” driving conditions, police said.