Ministers 'sit on hands' in Big Freeze

With bitterly cold conditions expected to continue into next week, town hall chiefs are following the Highways Agency's lead to reduce the amount of rock salt they use by 25 per cent.

It means further restrictions on gritting already limited in most areas to priority roads only, with minor routes left untreated unless snow has settled there.

The Local Government Association said councils would take "prudent measures" to reduce salt use while protecting safety and vital services.

But the Conservatives claimed Ministers had lost control of the situation, having "sat on their hands" despite warnings after severe weather last February.

Shadow Local Government Secretary Caroline Spelman said: "This is an admission of utter failure."

The Highways Agency has decided not to grit motorway hard shoulders to protect stocks, and two Yorkshire councils, Kirklees and Calderdale, have warned they may run out of rock salt this weekend if more heavy snow arrives.

The freezing weather continued to cause chaos yesterday, with rail, road and air travel all disrupted and most of the weekend's scheduled sports fixtures cancelled.

Two men died and another was in a critical condition last night after being rescued from a frozen lake in Leicester, while fears have grown for two teenage girls missing from their home in South Wales since Sunday.

Cabinet members had to shelve their plans for a meeting in Exeter and British Waterways confirmed that almost 90 per cent of its 2,200-mile river and canal network had frozen solid.

It seems that no respite is in prospect as an easterly wind is expected to sweep across the UK over the next few days, making it feel even colder.

But there were reasons to be grateful in Castleford yesterday, when builders unable to complete their own jobs volunteered to help a charity deliver meals on wheels to vulnerable people.