Thousands of people endured more travel misery yesterday as anger grew at the UK transport network's inability to cope with wintry conditions.

For the third day running there were no Channel Tunnel high-speed Eurostar trains operating, although the company's beleaguered boss Richard Brown said he hoped to run some services today.

The knock-on effect meant Channel Tunnel shuttle train company Eurotunnel had to suspend access to its Folkestone terminal in Kent after being inundated with passengers.

There were delays and cancellations to air and rail travel, with Gatwick Airport's runway having to shut at around 3.20 p.m. for de-icing work.

On the roads drivers had to contend with hazardous conditions, while in South Wales more than 180 schools and nurseries were closed because of poor weather conditions.

In Bradford, police appealed for witnesses after a man was found dead in a freezing city centre pond.

Also, fears were growing for a young man who vanished in the freezing weather. Adam Passfield, 22, was last seen at 2.30 a.m. on Saturday in Chelmsford, Essex, after an evening out with members of Heybridge Swifts Football Club.

The AA had its busiest day on the roads in 10 years. By 3 p.m., it had attended around 16,000 breakdowns. Normally, for the whole of a Monday in December the AA would attend around 10,000 vehicles.

Transport Minister Sadiq Khan voiced the frustration of thousands of stranded passengers when he announced that an independent inquiry team set up to look into the Eurostar travel debacle would report directly to him.

Mr Khan said: "This has been a terrible experience for thousands of passengers, both those stranded on the trains and at the stations and the many thousands more who face having their Christmas holiday plans disrupted."

Liberal Democrat MEP Sharon Bowles called for an overhaul of Eurostar, while Conservative MEP Nirja Deva said Richard Brown should resign.

Mr Brown said he was "very, very sorry" about the Eurostar train breakdowns which left thousands trapped in trains in the Channel Tunnel at the weekend.

He said modifications had been made to the trains to prevent snow getting into the electrics and that these modifications had been tested on trains today.

Mr Brown said the weather in northern France, through which the 186 mph trains travel, had been "unprecedented" and the worst in the company's 15-year history. This had created a new type of problem for the trains, one the company had not experienced.

Mr Brown said the independent inquiry was likely to have completed its report "in weeks rather than months". He said the company would have a lot of work to do to reassure the public that Eurostar was worth travelling with.

A Gatwick spokeswoman said it was hoped to have the runway at the West Sussex airport opened later today.

Budget airline easyJet was one of the carriers which had to cancel services today, while similar weather in North America meant some incoming flights to the UK were as much as six hours late.

UK airline Flybe put on extra flights to Paris to try to help ease the Eurostar situation, while BA used larger planes - including a Boeing 747 jumbo jet - on its services to the French capital.

BA said tonight that it would be using the larger planes, including another 747, on Paris services today.

Ryanair said it was launching £99 one-way fares for Eurostar passengers on services between Stansted and Paris (Beauvais) tomorrow.

Domestic rail travellers were also hit by the weather, with buses replacing trains in areas including Surrey, Hampshire, Kent, Wales and Lancashire.

Tonight, the Southeastern train company said that the bad weather meant it would be operating "an enhanced Saturday service" tomorrow.

Tory leader David Cameron said he was "incredibly frustrated" for rail passengers who have suffered delays and cancellations.

"I feel hugely sorry for them and it's incredibly frustrating," he said.

In Hampshire, heavy snow led to some roads in the county becoming impassable.

Commuters were urged by police to take extreme care and allow plenty of extra time for their journeys.

The north and east of the county was the worst affected area, with heavy snow also in the Winchester and Alton areas.

EasyJet later warned customers that further snow last night could result in further flight disruptions today.

The airline is advising all customers to check on its website for the latest cancellation news.

Customers should not travel to airports if their flight had been cancelled, they said.

A spokesman explained: "Passengers are advised that before going to the airport they must check the Flight Disruption section on www.easyJet.com to ensure their flight is not cancelled.

"If their flight has been cancelled the airline requests passengers do not to go to the airport but instead make the refund request or arrange the transfer online."