Shivering Britain was blanketed in snow again last night as winter’s grip on the nation got tighter and brought more travel misery to the roads, rail and air.

Across the country snow fell and combined with layers of ice to create hazardous motor-ing conditions.

Train operators implemented reduced services which are set to continue tomorrow, and at Heathrow Airport – the world’s busiest two-runway airport – more flights were cancelled for a third successive day.

Yesterday, bosses cancelled 260 flights, 20 per cent of Heathrow’s usual business, and today 10 per cent of flights will not operate because of expected low visibility.

A spokesman said: “It is possible that weather conditions at other European airports will increase the number of cancellations.

“Passengers due to travel tomorrow (today) are urged to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling to the airport. When there is low visibility, more space has to be left between aircraft.

“Many airports have plenty of spare runway capacity so aircraft can be spaced out more during low visibility without causing delays and cancellations.

“Because Heathrow operates at almost full capacity, there is simply no room to reschedule the delayed flights,” he added.

The Heathrow Connect and Heathrow Express train services were also hit by major delays to and from the airport.

Motorists did not fare much better, with warnings to be careful in conditions like “skating rinks”.

Edmund King, AA president, said: “Snow is still falling heavily in Hertfordshire, Kent, West Midlands and in a band across the South East, spreading north and east.

“Main roads and motorways are coping quite well with the snow so far. However, many drivers can’t get off their local residential streets and cul-de-sacs. The hidden danger is the sheet ice below the inch or two of fresh snow on un-gritted local roads where snow and slush from yesterday has frozen. Many of these residential roads are like ice skating rinks. If drivers can safely get off their local streets we advise them to stick to the main roads where grit and extra traffic has helped keep the ice away. The AA is reporting around 600 breakdowns every hour which is less than yesterday.

“Drivers need to be prepared because even on main roads the weather can change and lead to drivers getting stuck. Ensure you have coats, phones, spades and provisions with you.”

Billy Payne, a forecaster with Meteogroup, the Press Association’s weather division, said snowfall will last into the middle of the week although London should be drier today.

The Met Office issued a cold weather alert – saying the big freeze would last until Thursday morning when temperatures are expected to rise.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.