Snow keeps workers at home

Train services across the country, including those on normally bustling commuter routes into London, were severely disrupted by the snow which started falling on Sunday night and is forecast to continue.

A number of websites of rail companies, including the National Rail site, crashed under the weight of calls from people wanting to know if they could get to work.

Many rail firms advised passengers not to travel unless absolutely necessary, while London's six million bus users were left stranded when all services were suspended.

Southeastern, the UK's busiest commuter operator, was forced to cancel all services into London with no trains running into Cannon Street, Charing Cross and parts of London Bridge and Victoria stations.

Southern, which operates rail commuter routes from the south coast, including the Brighton line, into Victoria was forced to reduce its service on all routes to just one or two trains an hour.

South West Trains, which operates local and long distance routes into London Waterloo, suffered a much reduced service.

A spokeswoman said: "We advise passengers not to travel unless their journey is absolutely necessary."

Firms in London started contacting staff telling them not to even attempt to travel into the capital.

Companies were making arrangements for those staff who did make it to the office to stay in hotels on Monday night rather than attempt to get home later.