Snowfalls lighter than expected

Snow closed the track near Folkestone in Kent

Overnight snow showers predicted for south-east England were much lighter than expected, making travel much easier than on Wednesday.

Met Office severe weather warnings had been issued across England, except in the North West. Light snow fell in East Anglia, Kent and Sussex.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland were not affected and warnings of icy roads in England have expired.

A Network rail spokesman said most of the network "was running OK".

However, there were some reported delays on Southeastern and Southern trains.

In Kent, snow closed the track to Ashford International from Paddock Wood and Folkestone and there is further disruption at Hastings, Dover and Canterbury East due to "poor rail conditions".

There are no flight cancellations at Gatwick and Heathrow airports, according to BAA.

On Wednesday, there were 21 cancellations and delays at Heathrow caused by de-icing of planes.

British Airways cancelled three flights at Gatwick and there were also delays at Norwich airport.

The bad weather caused trains to grind to a halt as points failed, as southern England had its first taste of snow of the winter.

'Extreme weather'

Forecasters had warned drivers to take extra care on icy roads in south-east England.

Meanwhile, Network Rail has defended its performance in the face of what it called "extreme" weather.

"When you have extreme weather like this you can never guarantee that there is never going to be any disruption, what we can guarantee is that we are doing everything we can to sort it out," said a spokesman.

Snow in recent days also caused disruption on London's Tube network.

London Underground blamed the problems on "poor planning" by Metronet, which maintains most Tube lines under a public-private partnership deal.

But Metronet responded by saying London Underground had deemed the risk of severe weather on Wednesday to be small.