Cars buried and drivers stranded as wintry weather continues in North East and North Yorkshire

Residents in Teesdale had to dig their cars out as heavy snow continued to fall.

As many people head back to work and school for the first time after Christmas, snow has continued to cause problems across the North East and North Yorkshire.

ITV Tyne Tees has spoken to several drivers who have been stranded in heavy snow in County Durham.

Police and mountain rescue teams have come to their aid, with vehicles stuck on the B6276 Middleton in Teesdale to Brough Road for many hours on Monday morning.

Van driver Han, who is on his way to Germany and was stuck on the road for five hours, said: "It was alright all the way up here, and then suddenly the vehicles in front of us stopped still. I parked on the road, then a car wanted to come past so I moved over a bit and because of the snow I didn't realise I was then off the road. "

Steve Owers from Teesdale Mountain Rescue said: "What tends to happen is the A66 gets closed and people try to find a way around, unfortunately these routes are even higher than the A66 and they're more exposed.

"What will happen over the next few days is that the wind will blow the snow back onto the road so it will continue to drift on these sort of roads."

In Teesdale, residents spent the morning digging their cars out of thick snow. One woman said: "It's horrendous. It's never stopped, it's just taken us an hour and a half to get my car out."

Meanwhile, a couple who have lived in the area for more than 20 years said: "We actually moved in and got snowed in in the same week.

"You live here, you get used to it, but this is the worst once the wind starts blowing."

The A66 through County Durham and North Yorkshire, which is often affected by adverse weather, has been completely closed in both directions between Scotch Corner (junction 53 of the A1M) and Brough in Cumbria.

An amber warning for snow was in place for much of the region from 9pm on Saturday (4 January) until the end of Sunday, with a less severe yellow warning in force for all of Monday morning.

Reporter Gregg Easteal has been on the B6276 in Teesdale, where drivers were stranded for many hours

Over the weekend, North Yorkshire Police issued a statement urging people to only travel if "absolutely necessary", warning rescue services would be stretched.

It read: "It’s forecast to continue through the night into tomorrow morning, and is likely to cause treacherous driving conditions tomorrow morning.

"Some main roads, including parts of the A66 and the A170 at Sutton Bank, are now closed. There’s also flooding on some roads in York.

"Travel is not advised in areas where there’s a weather warning in place. But if you have to make an absolutely essential journey, you need to plan for the worst.

"And while we’re trying our best to help everyone, please bear in mind emergency services, breakdown services and other responders are in high demand and may struggle to get to you if the conditions are bad."

On Sunday morning (5 January), traffic was brought to a standstill on the A1M southbound between junction 61 at Bowburn and junction 60 at Bishop Auckland due to stranded vehicles on the carriageway.

There were also delays to flights at Newcastle Airport while the runway was cleared of snow, however the airport has since returned to operating normally.

As well as snow, the last 24 hours have also brought heavy rain, leading to concerns about flooding.

A number of flood alerts are in place across the region, including some more severe flood warnings around York.

In County Durham, a number of primary schools have been forced to close on Monday due to snowy conditions, with hopes to reopen on Tuesday.

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