Back-to-work battle for many in Arctic Britain

Arctic conditions across Yorkshire and much of Britain show no signs of abating, with further heavy snowfalls expected across the region last night and Met Office forecasters warning the freezing conditions could continue until "at least" the middle of January.

It followed confirmation a man had died in Bradford after being pulled from a freezing park lake on Sunday evening.

Several local authorities in Scotland have warned they are close to running out of grit for their roads, while Kirklees Council in West Yorkshire has announced it will only be gritting major routes for the foreseeable future as its own stocks of rock salt are running dangerously low.

While other authorities across the region reported they have sufficient stocks for the time being, the weather has continued to play havoc on much of Yorkshire's road network.

Met Office forecaster Helen Chivers said the snowy conditions will continue for at least another week.

"With the wind-flows we are having from northern Scandinavia and the Arctic, Yorkshire is one of the first places in line for heavy snow. We will see more on and off over the next few days, and the snow will remain while the temperatures remain so low. We can expect this to last until at least the middle of next week."

Thousands of motorists faced a miserable morning yesterday as they tried to return to work after the Christmas break. The AA said at one point it was receiving around 4,000 calls an hour from stricken car-owners, and expected to have attended a record-breaking 25,000 breakdowns over the course of the day – nearly three times the norm.

North Yorkshire has experienced the worst of the weather, with police reporting a total of 99 car crashes already this year, nine of them classed as serious.

Three officers were praised after battling through "potentially life-threatening conditions" for five hours on Saturday to rescue stranded motorists on Blakey Ridge, Kirkbymoorside.

Pc Andrew Marsden and Pc Steve Leach managed to get to the stranded cars and lead several people to safety at the remote Lion Inn pub, which sits at 1,325ft on the top of the moorland road.

A third officer, Traffic Constable Tony Call, also made it to the scene and stayed with a group of six 4x4 vehicles and their occupants who had become stranded about three-quarters-of-a-mile from the pub.

Lion Inn landlord Barry Crossland said a pregnant woman was one of 25 people who stayed the night until the conditions eased slightly the next day.

"It just came suddenly when the wind picked up – it was a total whiteout," he said. "I went out to get something from my car and it was incredible. I couldn't see the bonnet. Walking back, I could hardly breathe."

A couple in Halifax had a lucky escape when a car skidded down an icy street and smashed into their own parked vehicle, shunting it straight through their front door and into their hallway. The driver was taken to hospital with a suspected broken jaw.

Gillian Taylor, 46, said: "We were just in the kitchen having a cup of tea when we heard the bang. I was in shock. We were just lucky it didn't come into us."

In Kirklees, residents have been warned to take extra care on the roads after the council became the first in the region to announce it is running out of rock salt.

Coun David Sheard, cabinet member for highways, said: "We have had standing snow for almost three weeks now and this is starting to take its toll on our supply of grit."

A number of schools were closed yesterday due to the freezing conditions, including seven in North Yorkshire and two in the Bradford area. Another three remained closed in Dewsbury and Batley after a broken gas main left hundreds of properties without supply.

THE BIG FREEZE – Some of UK's coldest winters

1994-95: Persistent heavy snowfall hit northern Britain between January and March, including 40cms in Leeds in a single three-hour spell. The coldest temperature since records began (-27.2C) was recorded in Braemar, Scotland.

1978-79: The 'Winter of Discontent'. With much of Britain on strike, severe blizzards struck from late December until mid-March. Snow drifts in the North East reached 15ft.

1962-63: A famously cold winter. In some places the snow reportedly lay as high as hedgerows, with people preferring to walk on the tops of the frozen shrubbery than risk driving through deep snow.

1946-47: A country still ravaged by war endured more snowfall than in any winter in 300 years. After a mild December, it began to fall on January 22 and continued for weeks.

1813-14: Another famous winter, just months before the Battle of Waterloo. The Thames froze over, and London held the last "great" frost fair on its icy surface.

1683-84: The coldest of them all, remembered in the famous 19th century novel Lorna Doone.