More snow forecast to blanket UK as ice sparks travel disruption on roads, rail and at airports

Heavy snowfall, ice and fog has caused widespread travel chaos, as ITV News correspondents from across the UK report

Heavy snowfall caused widespread travel disruption across London and the south east of England, on Monday, as forecasters warned of similar conditions to come for parts of the UK.

Commuters faced travel chaos as large parts of the UK were hit by ice, fog and snow.

As much as 10cm fell across areas in the south east of England overnight, blanketing parts of London, Sussex, Surrey and Kent.

Braemar in Aberdeenshire recorded a low of -15.7C overnight, the Met Office said - the coldest night of the year so far.

The Met Office issued yellow severe weather alerts as freezing temperatures overnight combined with wintry showers created icy conditions on the roads and rail.

Snow forced airports to close their runways, caused train cancellations and left motorists stranded.

The warnings came as three children died after falling into a lake in Solihull, in the West Midlands, on Sunday afternoon.

Drivers on the M25 were stranded for several hours due to the UK’s busiest motorway being closed in both directions between Junction 23 for South Mimms and Junction 25 for Waltham Cross, both in Hertfordshire.

'It's a bit of a scary situation at the moment' - Daniel Duffield, a 22-year-old off-duty paramedic, was stuck on the M25 for more than two-and-a-half hours on Monday morning while attempting to travel home to Birmingham from London

Meanwhile, there were delays of up to 90 minutes on neighbouring stretches of the motorway.

Motorists were warned to expect long delays on the M11, M2, A21, A27 and A249, the National Highways said.

AA president Edmund King said the number of breakdown callouts was around 25% higher than normal.

Road users in the south-east were being asked by National Highways not to travel unless it was essential.

Several rail lines were closed on Monday morning, with Southeastern issuing a "do not travel" alert to passengers.

There was also major disruption to services run by Greater Anglia, South Western Railway and Southern.

On London Underground services minor and severe delays were experienced, with all but the Waterloo & City line, Elizabeth line, and DLR affected.

Several parts of the network were suspended, including: the Northern line between High Barnet and Finchley Central.

Airports were similarly impacted with both Gatwick and Stansted having to close their runways to clear snow on Sunday.

More than 100 flights were cancelled at Stansted Airport and the runway closed for around six and a half hours as crews battled snow, freezing fog and iced-up planes.

The Essex base said it was the "heaviest snowfall in a short period of time" it had seen for 12 years, with 9cm falling in around three hours.

Passengers were warned to expect disruption at several airports across the country and advised to check flight status with their airline and local travel conditions before setting out.

EasyJet said it was "doing everything possible" to ease the disruption for passengers.

Britain’s electricity system operator, National Grid Electricity System Operator (ESO), has put two coal-fired power stations on emergency standby as the plummeting temperatures put a strain on the country's energy supply.

It said the two "winter contingency coal units" will be available if needed on Monday as temperatures, adding the public "should continue to use energy as normal".

Is more snow forecast?

Parts of the UK will continue to be beset by snow and ice on Tuesday, with the potential for the country to experience the coldest night of the year for a second day running.

The Met Office has issued a yellow snow and ice warning covering northern Scotland and north east England from midnight on Tuesday until noon on Thursday.

A separate snow and ice warning covers the Shetland Islands until midnight tonight.

There is also an ice warning covering much of the South East, including London and Brighton from 9am on Monday until 11am on Tuesday.

Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon said there will be heavy snow in some places again on Tuesday.

"Coming into force at midnight tonight all the way through to lunchtime on Thursday, [there is a] large snow and ice warning covering the North East of England, the whole sort of northern portion of Scotland, as well as the Highlands and islands," he said.

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