Snow warning sparks travel fears

Unexpected snow brought roads to standstill in January

Heavy snow and severe weather is expected in much of the country at the weekend, forecasters have warned.

Snow and gale force winds are predicted as far south as East Anglia and the East Midlands on Sunday and Monday, prompting fears of traffic chaos.

The Met Office is predicting a 50% risk of travel disruption in Scotland and eastern areas of England.

The AA Motoring Trust says it hopes the lessons have been learned from last January's traffic chaos.

Severe weather

A low pressure system is expected to move south-east across Scotland on Saturday night followed by strong northerly winds on Sunday and early on Monday.

"There is the potential on Sunday and into Monday for heavy snow showers to be driven well inland from the east coast on gale force winds," the Met Office is warning.

Snow showers will then become frequent and blustery over northern and eastern Scotland and England, the Met Office says.

Thousands of motorists got caught up in the freezing weather last January, with the M11 in Essex and the A14 in Cambridgeshire worst affected.

Some drivers were stuck in their cars in the sub-zero temperatures overnight after road gritters failed to act quickly enough.

Lessons

AA Motoring Trust spokesman Richard Freeman said they were keeping a close eye on how the Highways Agency reacts.

"We would hope that the Highways Agency has learned the lessons of last January's roads chaos.

"We made it very clear that something had gone seriously wrong. Normally gritting of roads goes very smoothly but you can't always tell what will happen."

We have reviewed our procedures John Murphy Highways Agency

The Highways Agency said it was on a state of high alert and that it had been in contact with its contractors and managing agencies around the country to ensure that they were ready for any severe weather.

Gritters are on 24-hour stand-by and can be called up at a moment's notice, Highways Agency spokesman John Murphy said.

"We recognise that there were serious failing on parts of the network last winter and we have been putting in place steps to ensure that we are properly prepared.

"We have reviewed our contingency planning and procedures to avoid a repeat of last winter's difficulties," Mr Murphy said.

"We would also encourage drivers to take extra care when using roads during severe weather," he added.

With forecasters predicting a wet and windy Christmas Day, bookmakers Coral are reporting the quietest ever White Christmas betting.

Coral's David Stevens. said the odds on snow falling on the London Weather Centre had moved from 4-1 to 6-1.

He said people were listening to the weathermen, and keeping their money in their pockets.