Snow strands motorists, commuters

Up to 3in (8cm) of snow landed near Okehampton, Devon, forcing more than 50 drivers to abandon their cars on the A30 and others to wait as long as an hour while roads were cleared.

Elsewhere, train companies were forced to defend their operations as thousands of commuters faced delays and cancellations on routes into London, where there were few wintry showers but "low temperatures" brought some services to a standstill.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said some of the main arterial routes through the two counties were closed and more than 50 cars abandoned.

The A30 was worst affected on Dartmoor near Okehampton where a lorry jack-knifed and police were dealing with a four-vehicle crash and a car which collided with a lamppost. There were not thought to be any injuries.

Around 50 cars and 15 lorries were stuck on the Exeter-bound carriageway at various points throughout the night.

Cars and lorries were stuck on the A361 North Devon Link Road in the Tiverton area, with some sections of the road closed and major routes in Dorset were also closed and impassable due to the snow, including the A35 near Dorchester, the A37 towards Yeovil, the Ridgeway at Weymouth, and roads around Bere Regis, Wareham and Blandford.

Other parts of Somerset - especially around Taunton - and West Dorset also saw some sizeable flurries overnight, making for difficult driving conditions.

Nikki Berry, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said forecasters had not been expecting as much snow.

Icy road warnings also applied to much of Scotland, which saw widespread freezing temperatures overnight. Forecasters expect the snow to clear to the south through the day, but there may be more showers in the Highlands of Scotland.