Tuesday 22 January 2013

Weather live: snow to blight rush hour - Telegraph.co.uk

After that she was timetabled to head to Bolton One - a £30m health, leisure and research centre run in partnership with the NHS, the council and Bolton University.

There were also 100 disappointed guests at Hyde Community College's new building in Tameside, which the princess had been due to officially open this afternoon.

The visit was cancelled shortly before she had planned to arrive in Bolton after her plane was unable to take off from RAF Brize Norton.

The princess will reschedule the visits for later this year.

13.12 Rail network updates:

No trains between Crediton and Barnstaple

Delays between Newark North Gate and Peterborough

Buses will continue to replace trains between Kilwinning and Johnstone until approximately 4pm

National Rail has said all train operators are planning on running a full service tomorrow.

12.50 Telegraph deputy money editor Emma Simon gives some advice to readers wondering whether their pay will be docked if they can't get into work because of snow:

Employment specialists say that in most cases people don't have any automatic right to be paid if they can't get to work, and unfortunately this applies to reasons that are effectively beyond your control, such as road closures, train cancellations or even school closures.

However, this does not mean that all companies will automatically dock a day's pay. It's worth checking your contract; some may contain clauses that state that employees will still be paid if they are unable to attend work because of adverse weather conditions.

12.02 London City Airport is now running normally again, with flights returning back to schedule, although delays are still possible due to earlier weather conditions.

11.50 Telegraph transport correspondent David Millward reports that "life again is miserable" for London commuters after another day of train delays.

According to Network Rail 30 per cent of trains have either been cancelled or are running late. On a good day the figure would be less than 10 per cent. Life again is miserable for London's commuters, especially on Southeastern, where 52 per cent of trains were either cancelled or delayed by more than five minutes. First Capital Connect only marginally better with half the services being hit badly by the weather.

11.41 Around 800 schools are closed today across England, Wales and Scotland. Yesterday, approximately 5,000 shut their doors.

11.37 As the icy conditions show no sign of clearing, it seems people are fully preparing themselves for an onslaught of wintry weather. Sales of shoe grips have surged by over 1200% this week on Amazon compared to last, according to the online shopping website.

11.14 The Met Office has issued an updated forecast for southern England, which is now expected to be hit by 2cms of snow around the evening rush hour.

Somerset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, East and West Sussex as well as Surrey will see snow.

An amber warning for snow has been issued for much of southern England as drivers are warned to prepare for severe weather.

10.40 A 54-year-old man lay dead in the snow for several hours after after he slipped on ice and banged his head on a doorstep.

James Hurst had spent a night at the Swan Hotel in Accrington, Lancs before taking a taxi home.

After being dropped off in Manchester Road late on Saturday night, Mr Hurst, who lived alone after the death of his mother, made his way down Worsley Street, but slipped just doors away from his home.

His body was not found until 8am the next day.

Heath Vickery, 34, who lives next door to the house where Mr Hurst fell said: "We opened the curtains to find he had slipped and saw a body just lying there.

"His head had hit directly on the step.

"My wife Lisa saw him first and we were worried, so I went out and spoke to the police officer who was there."

Detective Inspector Mark Vaughton said: "It is a very tragic incident that involved a man slipping on ice."

10.05 Road closures:

The northbound A38(M) Aston Expressway, which links Birmingham city centre with the M6, was closed during the morning rush-hour due to icy conditions.

Airport update:

London City Airpot is experiencing disruptions due to low visibility.

09.45 The snow and transport chaos has inspired some to be creative:

TwitterPensioners' Tips ?@IvyManilow

Top Tip: Need to brave the snow and go to the shops? Be careful out there!

09.25 Wales has been particularly badly affected by snowy weather, with several hundred schools closed today.

Snow overnight across the Cardiff Council area has meant that 56 schools are shut today.

Bridgend County Borough Council has 15 schools reported closed.

In the Caerphilly Council area, a total of 91 schools were reported shut today due to the adverse weather. Just five schools are listed as open.

In the Rhondda Cynon Taf council area, 91 schools are reported closed after snow and freezing conditions overnight.

The county has seen close to a three-fold rise in school closures today, after only 33 shut yesterday.

Adverse weather continues to affect some roads with the A4107, Bwlch Mountain Road closed in both directions.

The A4233 Maerdy Mountain Road is also closed in both directions as are the Caerphilly and Rhigos mountain roads.

09.00 A motorist had to be cut free through the roof of their car after it left the road and plunged 20m down an embankment.

The vehicle skidded off the icy carriageway and plummeted down the bank, eventually coming to rest 40m away from the road and 20m below the level of the highway.

Fire crews spent an hour using two sets of hydraulic cutting equipment to peel back the car roof before freeing the stricken driver using rope lines and tools.

Dorset Fire and Rescue Service said a technical rescue crew also attended the incident on the A353 at White Horse Hill near Osmington, Weymouth, Dorset, yesterday/on Monday evening.

08.41 Large pockets of Cornwall experienced their first snow-based disruption of 2013 today, as many awoke to a thin layer.

The far south west of England had been left largely untouched as the rest of the country saw roads blocked, schools and businesses closed, and streets turned into makeshift ice rinks as winter tightened its icy grip last week.

But today many parts of Cornwall reported snowfall overnight, with Cornwall Council announcing that several schools had delayed opening times to allow the roads to thaw and giving teachers, staff and pupils safe access to the grounds.

A handful of schools in the exposed Bodmin Moor area of the county decided against opening at all, as reports of ungritted rural roads made it difficult for people to get in.

08.32 Schools need to have a culture of committment to keeping schools open during difficult weather conditions, Graham Stuart, chairman of the Education Select Committee, has said.

The Tory MP warned closing schools has a "knock-on impact" on small businesses and the economy.

QuoteYou'd hope that no headteacher would take it [the decision] lightly but every unnecessary closure has an impact on the child in terms of lost education, wasted money for the State and a tremendous knock-on impact on business.

Every headteacher needs to encourage a culture in which people anticipate the weather and they ensure that they get to work.

Everything begins with school. The call comes from the school and then the knock-on impact can lead to the closure of a business. If it can be avoiced, it must be avoided and everything must be done.

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, added:

QuoteWe need to ressist a culture in this country where we say there's a little bit of snow in some areas and everything turns into chaos. We should be keeping the roads open so that children and staff can get into schools and we can continue with our ordinary lives.

08.16 Emergency services in Devon were called to a serious crash this morning after several vehicles spun off the main route into Plymouth.

At least one person is seriously ill in the city's Derriford Hospital following the collision on the A38 between the Manadon and Marsh Mills junctions of the Exeter-bound carriageway shortly before 6am.

The road has been closed at the sliproads joining at Devonport and St Budeaux. The Exeter-bound carriageway is open from the Tamar Bridge but traffic is being directed off at St Budeaux, police said.

A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said: "Diversions have been set up but there will be inevitable delays for the rush-hour traffic.

"Officers at the scene believe that the freezing road conditions may be a contributory factor and are warning motorists to slow down when using any of the roads in the area.

"Further collisions on the approach to the scene are also adding to the congestion and motorists are advised delays journeys or avoid the area if possible."


Trains travel in and out of Victoria station in front of Battersea Power Station (photo: Getty Images)

08.00 A full list of disruptions to rail services:

Delays between Romford and London Liverpool Street until further notice

Delays between Ilkley / Shipley and Leeds until further notice

Delays between Norwich and Ely until further notice

Delays between Hayes and London Bridge until further notice

Buses replace trains between Kilwinning and Johnstone until further notice

Delays between Bromsgrove and Birmingham New Street until further notice

Delays between Fareham and Portsmouth Harbour / Havant until further notice

Amended service between Manchester Victoria and Salford Central until further notice

Changes to some Gatwick Express services affected by snow and ice

A reduced service between Hackney Downs and London Liverpool Street until further notice

07.45 Heathrow decided against cutting the number of flights to and from the airport ahead of heavy snowfall, the FT reports, even though a reduction could have prevented widespread disruption, according to analysts.

Heathrow Airport Holdings decided last Thursday not to cut flights even though it was aware snow was forecast for Friday. Hundreds of passengers were forced to spend the night at the airport after 37 per cent of flights had to be cancelled.

Heahtrow's difficulties in coping with snow stem from its status as Europes' busiest airport. If one runway has to close temporarily, affected flights cannot be moved to a different time slot because the airport runs at almost full capacity.

07.35 Road closures:

The A66 is closed in both directions between the junctions with the A685 (Brough) and the A67 (Bowes) due to hazardous driving conditions.

The A38 in Cornwall is closed eastbound after the Tamar Bridge, between the junctions of the B3413 and the A386, due to an incident.

07.19 The AA has said breakdowns were being reported yesterday at a rate of around 2,000 an hour with the busiest areas being the Midlands, London, the South West and the South East. Total call-outs numbered more than 17,000.

07.07 Airport and rail network update:

Birmingham and Newcastle airports say flights are subject to delays.

Five Eurostar services have been cancelled.


A British Airways aircraft taxis at Heathrow (photo: Reuters)

06.58 As we report in the Telegraph today, parents are facing a mounting childcare bill after snowfalls closed more than 5,000 schools yesterday and threatened to cause chaos for the rest of the week.

One-in-six primary and secondary schools across the UK is believed to have shut on Monday because of concerns over unsafe playgrounds and icy roads in the surrounding area.

But some mothers and fathers took to social networking websites to hit out over the late closure of schools. Some were not warned about the decision until 9am – making it almost impossible to arrange emergency childcare.

Martin Stott, the headmaster of fee-paying Old Hall preparatory school, near Telford, criticised schools that closed because of snow or ice. He said:

QuoteIn the middle of a recession, parents have to work even harder to make ends meet and it's vital that they don't take time off unnecessarily when the school holidays already stretch them in terms of childcare arrangements.

If all schools were self-employed, then every one of them would stay open, regardless of the weather, because they couldn't afford not to.

The knock on effects of school closures ripple far and wide for families, businesses and the entire economy.

06.50 More severe weather is on the way, forecasters predict.

Up to 10cms of snow is expected to fall this morning in parts of Scotland and northern England and a further 2cms in East Anglia, followed by around 6cms in southern England this evening.

A forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "With more snow coming today, we can expect more disruption.

"Temperatures were very low overnight, as low as -11.3 in Buckinghamshire, and will be low again tonight with many places struggling to stay above freezing during the day.

"The rest of the week will see widespread frost and showers."

The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings as rain falling on to frozen surfaces increases the risk of ice.

Amber warnings remain in place for heavy snow across the higher ground of north-east England and eastern Scotland while yellow warnings are in place for ice and snow across parts of South Wales and western England.


A snow plough makes way down the A68 in Scotland (photo: Getty images)

06.32 Cancellations and delays to flights and trains are expected to cause havoc for yet another day as another round of snow descends on Britain.

Airport updates:

Heathrow airport is fully operational today but it warned passengers to expect delays and cancellations.

Gatwick has also said delays are possible.

Rail network updates:

Gatwick Express trains are subject to delays and cancellations

Eurostar services continue to be delayed

Greater Anglia trains to and from Stansted airport may be running up to 60 minutes late

Southern is running an amended timetable

East Coast services are subject to disruption and there are delays of up to 40 minutes to trains between London Kings Cross and Berwick-upon-Tweed / Hull / Leeds

South West Trains are expected to run as normal

06.30 Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the weather situation in Britain.

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