More snow on way as temperatures plummet

On one of the coldest November nights since records began temperatures dropped to almost -14C at Topcliffe in North Yorkshire – the lowest recorded temperature anywhere in England between Saturday and Sunday.

Heavy snowfall forced Leeds Bradford Airport to close its runway yesterday, while a motorist was fighting for his life in hospital last night after he was hit by an out-of-control car in snowy conditions on the M1.

The 40-year-old, from Wallsend, North Tyneside, was injured in a multiple vehicle pile-up near Sheffield at 8am on Saturday.

The crash, involving a lorry and three cars, happened when the man's Ford Focus skidded on ice and came to rest on the hard shoulder, facing the wrong way.

After getting out of his vehicle the motorist and a lorry driver who had stopped to help were hit by a Vauxhall Vectra which had collided with another car it had attempted to overtake.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance airlifted the 40-year-old to Sheffield General Hospital, where he remains in intensive care.

The lorry driver, a 42-year-old man from Pontefract, suffered a broken leg. A police spokesman said the incident had happened in icy driving conditions.

Leeds Bradford Airport closed its runway to clear off snow. Flights from Prague, Alicante and Malaga were diverted to Manchester while a flight from Aberdeen was sent to Humberside Airport.

There was a respite from snow across much of the region yesterday morning, but blizzards returned in the afternoon and forecasters expect more this week.