Government orders review of Britain's crippled transport systems

Two major airports - Edinburgh and London Gatwick - were closed this morning and travellers using roads and railways faced major delays.

With criticism mounting of efforts to keep Britain moving during the cold spell, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond announced a review of how transport operators have coped.

He said: "We took urgent action during the summer which means we're better prepared for severe weather than last year - a national strategic salt reserve exists for the first time.

"But I share the frustration of the travelling public and we need to be sure that we are doing everything possible to keep Britain moving."

He added: "Complacency is not an option. There are lessons to be learned from our performance in every bout of bad weather and it is important that we learn those now.

"Unfortunately, in extreme weather conditions some disruption is inevitable but there is no excuse for poor communication with passengers and motorists."

Up to 20cm (8in) of fresh snowfall is expected to fall on the east of England today according to weather experts, with London and the South East also being hit by more blizzards.

Temperatures across the UK will struggle to break zero today, but experts offered some respite, predicting that the wintry weather will ease off slightly tomorrow.

Forecaster David Price, from The Met Office, said: "It will continue to be very cold for most of the country today and in terms of snow it will be a very similar picture to yesterday.

"Showers will be pushing in from the North East coast and across northern England all the way through to the east coast.

"A band of snow will continue to affect south-east England, with the Home Counties, Kent, Surrey and London all experiencing between 2cm and 5cm of snowfall. Southern counties and Devon will also have snow."

In England, the Met Office has issued severe warnings of heavy snow in the North East, Yorkshire and Humber, the East, the South West and London and the South East.

Temperatures fell to minus 18.6C in the Scottish Highlands last night, with warnings also applying to Grampian, Strathclyde, Central, Tayside and Fife and South West, Lothian and Borders.

Mr Price said there is likely to be large amounts of snow on the ground today, as fresh falls add to already high levels.

However, he predicted an ease in snowfall tonight and said that for most, tomorrow would start off as a "fine" day with snow showers confined to coastal regions.

Gatwick Airport will remain closed all day today due to the severe weather conditions, with officials warning it will not reopen until at least 6am tomorrow.

A spokesman said: "We are doing everything we can to resume operations, however conditions have deteriorated considerably. Our teams are working around the clock to make the runway safe for aircraft to use and get our airlines and passengers flying again."

Edinburgh Airport was also closed this morning, but staff were hopeful the runway would reopen later today.

Train travellers continued to face major disruption.

Dozens of passengers were forced to spend last night on a stranded train between London and Brighton.

Train operator Southern, which cancelled all services this morning, was unable to give any further details.

On the roads, Hampshire Police issued a warning to motorists as heavy snow fell overnight.

HGV drivers were warned avoid the A3 and treacherous conditions were reported on the A3M. The M3 was closed northbound at junction 9 because of a jack-knifed lorry and the M27 was reduced to one lane between junctions 5 and 7.

In Kent, police asked drivers to avoid the M20 after closing the slip roads at junctions 8, 9 and 10 of the coastbound carriageway due to blizzard conditions and freezing temperatures

Forces in Essex and Sussex also advised people to only make essential trips as snow fell throughout the night.

Surrey Police told drivers to only use roads in an emergency after declaring all roads in the county treacherous.

Widespread ice caused major problems nationwide yesterday, with the AA attending more than 11,300 incidents. The RAC also saw call volumes rise to unprecedented levels for this time of year.

In Crawley, West Sussex, a motorcyclist was killed in a crash involving a lorry at 5.10am, and a woman died after falling into a freezing lake at Pontefract racecourse, West Yorkshire.

London City Airport's runway will remain closed until noon today.

A spokeswoman said: "We advise passengers to contact their airline or visit www.londoncityairport.com for further information."

Drivers were left stranded overnight in South Yorkshire as heavy snow caused major disruption.

Treacherous driving conditions on a stretch of the A57 between Todwick, South Yorks, and Worksop, Notts, meant many drivers were stranded in their vehicles.

For some drivers it was the second night they were forced to sleep in their vehicles.

Other motorists were forced to spend the night at a nearby Methodist hall where they were given shelter and hot drinks, South Yorkshire Police said.

Mountain rescue teams were drafted in to help motorists.

In East Sussex, the county council said around 30cm (12in) of snow had fallen overnight and more in some places.

Snow ploughs have been out throughout the night and morning but a spokesman admitted there was "considerable work" needed to reopen many roads.

She said: "Our priority will be to focus on the main routes and we will continue to plough throughout the day, but the forecast is for continued snow showers.

"At the moment, we would advise residents not to travel unless they really have to."

Derek Turner, director of operations at the Highways Agency, said there was no shortage of salt.

"At this stage I don't think the country has a salt shortage at all. Certainly the Highways Agency has more salt than it had last year, and we have supplies coming from overseas to create a national stockpile should the weather continue," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He advised people not to take journeys unless they were "really necessary".

"Safety is paramount and it's really important that people who are setting out have to think about whether their journey is really necessary and, if it is, they take appropriate precautions - taking a shovel, warm clothing, something to eat, something to drink, so that should their journey be obstructed or longer than they anticipated, they are safe.

"If you can possibly avoid a journey, you should do so. We are expecting some quite severe low temperatures, and that of course with the melting snow could create additional hazards which will not be apparent, like ice which is not as visible as the snow."

The A66 was closed in both directions between the A67 (Bowes) and the A685 (Brough) due to snow, with this stretch not expected to reopen before noon today.

Snow also caused the closure of a section of the A628 between the A616 (Langsett) and the A57 in South Yorkshire.

The A249 Sheppey Crossing in Kent was also closed.

On the railways, First Capital Connect was unable to run any cross-London Thameslink services, while signal problems at King's Cross station in London affected morning rush-hour services.

Many services had to be cancelled in Scotland and northern England, with a number of trains unable to run in the Sheffield area.

The Southeastern train company was only running a "limited contingency timetable" service, while there were no trains between Guildford and Redhill in Surrey.

There was no Gatwick Express service, although anyone who managed to reach Gatwick Airport would have found there were no flights.

Flights were operating at Heathrow but British Airways said there would be delays to some services.

Luton Airport was also open, although officials warned that bad weather in the UK and abroad was affecting flights.

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Page 8: 08:45On the London Underground there were severe morning rush-hour delays on the Bakerloo, Circle, District, Hammersmith and City, Jubilee and Metropolitan lines.

A burst water main at Finchley Road station in north-west London led to the problems on the Jubilee and Metropolitan lines.

The London Overground line was also part-suspended.

Bus passengers faced diversions on some routes in the capital.

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Page 9: 10:57The chaos caused by the snow will be raised in the Commons by Labour's Roberta Blackman-Woods, the City of Durham MP and shadow Cabinet Office minister.

Commons Speaker John Bercow granted her request to ask ministers an urgent question about the winter weather.