Unseasonal wintry blast

Emergency services, local authorities and the Highways Agency worked through the night attending hundreds of incidents. Drivers, including singer Cheryl Baker, spoke of taking several hours to complete short journeys, while a party of 120 German students had to be put up in Hastings town hall in East Sussex for the night when families due to look after them were unable to reach them.

After a night of chaos, road, rail and air travel were all badly affected as the freezing temperatures and biting winds continued.

Jersey Airport was shut and was remaining closed all day due to snow, while travellers heading for Gatwick were advised to allow extra time to reach the West Sussex airport due to snow-hit roads in the area.

Many rail services were affected, with delays of up to an hour on all services run by the Southern train company.

A number of roads remained closed, including the A27 at Worthing in West Sussex and the A259 at Beachy Head in East Sussex.

Cross-Channel ferries were operating "as far as possible" but passengers were advised to allow extra time to reach ports due to bad conditions on the A2 and A20 in Kent.