Drivers trapped by overnight freeze (From St Helens Star)

Drivers trapped by overnight freeze

9:00am Tuesday 12th March 2013 in National News © Press Association 2013

Britons braved icy blasts in an effort to get to work after a night which saw hundreds of drivers stranded in freezing conditions.

Some motorists trapped overnight were caught in treacherous conditions on the M23 in Sussex and on the A23 in Kent, while many people abandoned their vehicles as emergency services, local authorities and the Highways Agency worked through the night attending hundreds of incidents.

Drivers, including singer Cheryl Baker, spoke of taking several hours to complete short journeys, while a party of 120 German students had to be put up in Hastings town hall in East Sussex for the night when families due to look after them were unable to reach them.

After a night of chaos, road, rail and air travel were all badly affected as the freezing temperatures and biting winds continued.

Jersey Airport was shut and was remaining closed all day due to snow, while travellers heading for Gatwick were advised to allow extra time to reach the West Sussex airport due to snow-hit roads in the area.

Many rail services were affected, with delays of up to an hour on all services run by the Southern train company and a number of roads remained closed, including the A27 at Worthing in West Sussex and the A259 at Beachy Head in East Sussex.

Cross-Channel ferries were operating "as far as possible" but passengers were advised to allow extra time to reach ports due to bad conditions on the A2 and A20 in Kent. Former Bucks Fizz star Baker said she had taken 10 hours to complete a one-hour journey back from Brighton, tweeting: "So 8 hours later, STILL stuck on the A25. Could have flown to NY by now. Was it the wrong kind of snow?"

Motorist Jonathan Lara took eight hours to travel less than eight miles after leaving work at Gatwick airport to go home to Brighton while John Hall, Gloucestershire's chief fire officer, said his journey from just north of Oxford to Brighton by car took him 14 hours.

On the railways, passengers travelling with the Southern train company were warned to expect short-notice cancellations and delays of up to 60 minutes across the company's whole network, and no trains were able to run between Redhill in Surrey and Tonbridge in Kent, and there was no replacement bus service able to operate.

Eurostar later announced that all its services were suspended due to the bad conditions in France and Belgium. It was not known if the company was going to be able to operate any more trains later.