Schools closed ahead of more snow

Forty-four flights at Luton Airport were cancelled

Heavy snowfall of up to six inches in parts of East Anglia has led to warnings of further travel problems and school closures.

Parents were warned to check with schools for further closures on Friday.

Cambridgeshire Police said it had received double its usual number of emergency calls - most weather-related.

And the Met Office issued a severe weather warning for Friday for parts of southern and eastern England prompting more schools to announce closures.

It said severe weather could affect Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire on Friday morning.

Flights resumed at Luton Airport after 44 were cancelled. Stansted Airport in Essex was operating normally.

Buses and school transport were stopped or cut back in the west of the region.

Lorry crashes

Three lorries crashed on the M1 between Milton Keynes and Northampton causing problems and the A14 at Alconbury was blocked by jack-knifed lorries but it reopened on Thursday afternoon.

However heavy snow and the presence of gritters and snow ploughs on the main roads caused long delays.

Police warned drivers of hazardous conditions continuing on the M1, M25, M11, A14, A1, A428 and A505.

Heavy snow closed the A45 eastbound at Northampton and the A6045 westbound at Peterborough.

We are asking the public to think twice about calling for an ambulance Gary Sanderson

Bedfordshire County Council said farmers were assisting in snow clearing.

Council officials in Hertfordshire were being forced to look elsewhere for more supplies of salt for gritting.

Commuters and other passengers faced delays on train services in the Stevenage area, following overhead line problems at Hitchin and Royston.

In Norfolk 87 schools and colleges were closed, with the severe weather mainly affecting the west of the county. Some London-bound train services from King's Lynn station were cancelled.

In Bedfordshire 229 schools were shut, in Hertfordshire there were 97 closed, while in Buckinghamshire 72 schools were closed.

In Buckinghamshire 38 announced they would be shut on Friday.

Milton Keynes saw 117 of its schools shut with many adult education classes cancelled in most counties.

There were 271 schools and colleges closed in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, the councils reported.

Racing cancelled

County Council officials in Suffolk and Essex said the two counties remained largely unscathed with services operating normally.

The race meeting at Huntingdon was called off, depriving 13-times champion jockey Tony McCoy of a chance to reach 3,000 jumps winners.

The East of England Ambulance Service urged people only to call 999 if absolutely necessary because the state of the roads was making driving difficult across much of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

Spokesman Gary Sanderson said: "We are asking the public to think twice about calling for an ambulance."

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