Heathrow only allowing a 'handful' of departures and widespread disruption expected at other airports
Britain remained paralysed by snow today, with airport schedules heavily disrupted, trains delayed and roads coated in black ice as the government said it would ask its chief scientific adviser whether the country was experiencing a "step change" in weather patterns.
Heathrow said it would not be letting any flights land on its runway, with only a "handful" of departures taking place, piling on the misery for hundreds of stranded people who were forced to spend the night in terminals.
Hundreds of thousands of Britons had been due to fly this weekend, with 4 million expected to go abroad, according to travel association Abta.
Singer Lily Allen was one of the travellers caught up in the chaos after boarding and then being forced to disembark from a plane at Heathrow yesterday. An American student, Zack Robinson, told BBC Radio 5 Live he sat on a plane for eight hours waiting to take off before being told it was cancelled.
Elizabeth Herridge was told her KLM flight from Heathrow to Amsterdam was going ahead as expected this morning, but was turned away from Terminal 4 when she arrived.
Herridge, a communications worker, who was hoping to get away for Christmas, said: "I received a text alert from Heathrow at 5.30am this morning saying my 8.40am flight was running on time. I didn't ignore it and turned up first thing, but I was greeted by a member of staff at the terminal doors asking why I was here as there were no flights coming in or out and to go home. There seems to be a lot of confusion and I have only seen one Heathrow worker. All the airline desks are shut because it is a Sunday - it's absolutely ridiculous."
A spokeswoman for Heathrow, which experienced temperatures of -5.2C (23F) overnight, said: "Heathrow airport will not be accepting arrivals on Sunday, and will only manage a handful of departures as our airfield team continues to deal with the impacts of yesterday's bad weather and prepares the airport for a full reopening on Monday." She added: "We are extremely sorry for the disruption this will cause to passengers and airlines and we stress that passengers must check with their airlines before travelling to the airport. We will provide regular updates."
The airport said several hundred people were working to treat areas and keep passengers in the terminal as warm and comfortable as possible.
Gatwick airport reopened after planes were grounded for large periods of yesterday, but widespread disruption was expected with officials advising passengers to check with their airline before travelling.
Stansted, Luton, Exeter, London City, Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Southampton, Cardiff and Birmingham airports also said flights would be subject to delays and cancellations.
Forecasters said the UK was hit by abnormally low temperatures overnight, with most parts of the country struggling to get over -5C. The mercury dropped to -19C in Pershore, Worcestershire, and -14C in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, while fresh snow fell in eastern England and Scotland.
Snow was today expected in northern and eastern Scotland and north-east England, with the Met Office issuing severe weather warnings. Commuters were also warned of widespread icy roads in Wales, north-west England, the Midlands and the south.
Weather experts said temperatures would struggle to rise above freezing, meaning large accumulations of snow, which left many people stuck in their homes yesterday, would fail to clear.
Chaos was again expected on the roads and on rail networks today with the freeze showing little sign of relenting.
Yesterday the icy conditions claimed at least another three lives - a girl in her early teens was killed in a sledging accident and a mother and her 10-year-old son died in a road crash.
Meanwhile, Jeremy Clarkson and Jemima Khan were among those left stranded after plunging temperatures hit the transport network.
Britain traditionally experiences mild winters, but last year's was the coldest for 30 years and the latest big snowfall is the second to paralyse the country in three weeks.
The transport secretary, Philip Hammond, said he had asked the government's chief scientific adviser to assess whether the country was experiencing a "step change" in weather patterns due to climate change and whether it needed to spend more money on winter preparations.
Louise Ellman, the Labour chair of the Commons transport select committee, said it was no longer sufficient for ministers to brush away criticism by saying the severe conditions were exceptional. "This is now the third bad winter in a row. We need to establish whether we think there may be a change of weather patterns and if so respond accordingly," she said. "We should be able to respond to these events better."
Ellman said her committee would study what had gone wrong. "Clearly it is something we will have to look into."
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