Worst snowfalls for 100 years

One woman died after falling into a freezing lake at Pontefract Racecourse while a 52-year-old man was seriously ill in hospital last night after being found unconscious in the snow a day earlier in Todmorden.

The ambulance which rescued the woman from the boating lake yesterday had to be towed through thick snow by a police 4x4 vehicle. She died later in hospital but the incident is not being treated as suspicious.

The severe weather forced Leeds Bradford Airport and the Humber Bridge to close while towns and cities around the region were hit by an early rush hour as commuters battled to get home.

Forecasters have warned of further snowfall of up to 15cm today, adding to travel woes which are said to be costing the national economy 1.2bn a day as people are unable to get to work or go Christmas shopping trips.

Motorists in Sheffield have been urged to stay home wherever possible, with the council warning residents it was facing the heaviest snowfall to hit the city in 100 years.

Both the Snake and the Woodhead Trans-Pennine routes were shut yesterday and a full Sheffield council meeting was cancelled because of the weather for the first time in its history.

Treacherous driving conditions meant some motorists were forced to spend the night at Woodall services on the M1 after becoming stranded on the motorway on Tuesday.

Hundreds of vehicles also got stuck on the A57 between Worksop and Sheffield and police will today attempt to launch the process of reuniting owners with abandoned vehicles to clear the route.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond called for an urgent audit of the Highways Agency's performance since the big freeze began.

Train journeys across the region were badly hit by the heavy snow. Leeds Train Station was overrun with commuters trying to get home yesterday afternoon as services around Yorkshire were cancelled. Rail operators across the region said they expect a similarly disrupted service today. Services between Leeds and Brighouse, Huddersfield and Barnsley, Scarborough and Hull, and Sheffield and Lincoln were all postponed indefinitely.

Half of all today's Eurostar services from London to Paris and Brussels have been cancelled.

Buses operated by both Stagecoach and First South Yorkshire were also cancelled in Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotherham.

More than 1,000 schools across Yorkshire remained shut or sent children home early while Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam and Hull universities all closed for the day.

Doncaster Council was forced to issue a safety warning after children built walls of snow, blocking off three roads. A spokesman said; "This could have very serious consequences if a car was to hit one, particularly in the dark."

An 81-year-old man, from Hull, had his mobility scooter stolen after leaving his vehicle to ask for help because his route was blocked.

The incident happened on Tuesday in Rawlings Way, in the city, between 11am and 1.15pm. Humberside Police was also working to quash rumours that it had been sending out texts warning motorists they would be prosecuting drivers for setting out with excessive snow on car roofs.

Although much of South Yorkshire ground to a halt yesterday, one couple battled through the arctic conditions to get married at Sheffield Town Hall.

Bridegroom Ian Cawthorne, 25, and his bride Alecia Houghton, 22, enjoyed a different kind of white wedding after taking a tram to make sure that they got to their venue, with the bride waiting until she got there to change into her outfit.

In North Yorkshire, a county council care worker went the extra mile to get to work – travelling for more than three hours on a forklift truck on a journey which involved getting past several fallen trees.

The council staff also used a tractor to reach the home of a 102-year-old woman who lives halfway down a one-in-three hill near Littlebeck.