Motorists face freezing weather conditions across the UK as AA warns of another problematic day on the roads
Icy conditions will greet motorists in many parts of the country this morning on what is expected to be the busiest day of the Christmas getaway on the roads.
The Met Office is warning of frozen roads across the country, after predicting more heavy snow overnight and in the early morning in parts of Scotland and the north-east.
Even before the bad weather conditions struck, the AA was predicting journey times would be likely to double today on main routes.
"We are building up for a problematic day on the roads," said Paul Watters from the AA.
Weather-related troubles saw the breakdown service field an estimated 21,000 call-outs yesterday, and Watters said: "We don't expect today to be any easier."
Passenger backlogs at airports and on the trains have begun to ease but airports are still warning of a number of knock-on delays and cancellations while problems remained on the rail network.
A number of East Coast trains between London and Leeds have been cancelled, as have some Virgin trains between the capital and Manchester. Services on most Scotrail routes, Northern Rail, First Capital Connects' Thameslink and Great Northern routes, and First TransPennine Express have also been affected by the weather.
Eurostar said it was running a "near normal service" but has still cancelled eight out of 52 services today. It is advising people not to turn up if they do not hold a valid ticket for today and for ticketholders to arrive one hour before their scheduled departure.
After stinging criticism for the number of cancellations at the airport this week, Heathrow said it was expecting to run 1,206 flights today, almost a full schedule.
After reopening its second runway on Tuesday, it fulfilled two-thirds of its flights yesterday but stressed passengers should not expect an immediate return to normality.
British Airways, which has cancelled more than 2,000 flights as a result of the snow and ice, said it hoped today and Christmas Eve would see it operate a full long-haul departure schedule from Heathrow. It will also operate a normal schedule at Gatwick and London City airports.
All airports continue to tell customers to check with their airline if their flight is operating.
Sean Tipton, of Abta, said: "The travel industry is very pleased that both Heathrow and Gatwick are returning to normal service. However, there will still be some delays and cancellations due to the many aircraft being out of position. Many package holidaymakers whose flights were cancelled over the weekend will now be jetting off on holiday due to their flights being rescheduled."
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