Updated on
Summary
Heavy snow in several areas of western France brought travel misery for hundreds of thousands of people on Wednesday as vehicles skidded off road and heavy lorries were ordered off the highways.French weather agency Meteo France had a severe weather warning in place in 10 departments (counties) in Brittany and Normandy as thick, wet snowflakes fell on the roads, bringing heavy traffic to a virtual standstill.Police near the Breton town of St. Brieuc were ordering lorries and heavy goods vehicles to stop and wait for the roads to be cleared, allowing only smaller cars to go through.The driving conditions are pretty difficult because of the weather. So the lorries are blocked on the left-hand side to allow people in private cars to drive, one policeman explained. The move brought splutters of protest from those whose livelihoods depend on moving goods around the country.There was a weather bulletin out since last night, so they could have done something a bit better to allow us to move around, lorry driver Cyril Tampan told the French television network M6. Jean-Pierre Monier, another driver, added: We never have this kind of problem in foreign countries. It's just in France. In France, they put only one kilogramme of salt down for every three kilometres of road. So it's not difficult to understand why. Meanwhile in Britain, blizzards swept across central and southern England on Wednesday, bringing more road and rail chaos, forcing airlines to suspend flights and hundreds of schools to close. The Met Office issued severe weather warnings across the entire country, predicting that up to 40 cm of snow (16 inches) could fall in the home counties and London by the end of Wednesday. After the north of England and Scotland were worst-hit by the freeze on Tuesday (January 5), the Met Office warned of extreme weather for much of southern England. Forecasters said Hampshire, Oxfordshire, West Berkshire, Surrey and Buckinghamshire could see exceptionally heavy snowfall as the blizzards moved south. They said between 15cm and 30cm (6in and 12in) of snow is expected, but there could be in excess of 40cm (16in). Hundreds of schools have been forced to close with Lancashire, West Yorkshire, the West Midlands, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire and Surrey worst hit. The cold snap, which forecasters said is the worst in 30 years, brought travel chaos, with ice and snow making driving treacherous and heavy disruption to rail services. Close to a 1,000 motorists were trapped in their cars on the A3 over night in Hampshire, with many others forced to abandon their vehicles in the rest of the county as snow drifts made roads impassable. Flights from Gatwick were severely affected after it was forced to close over night, with more than 120 flights cancelled and many more delayed, according to its website. A spokeswoman for BAA also said a total of 29 flights in and out of Heathrow had been cancelled on Wednesday. Luton airport was closed from about 2030 GMT on Tuesday evening until 0430 GMT on Wednesday, with a total of 44 flights in and out of the airport cancelled. Rail operators have announced reduced services and delays including East Coast, East Midlands, Chiltern Railways, First Great Western, National Express East Anglia, South West Trains, Southeastern and Southern trains.
