Power restored after heavy snow

About 5in of snow fell in and around Tunbridge Wells overnight

Fifty homes in the South East were still without power on Monday evening after heavy snowfall brought down power lines affecting more than 8,000 homes.

At least 12cm (5in) of snow fell in areas of West Kent and East Sussex, bringing chaos to roads and railways.

Additional train services ran from London Charing Cross to Hastings during the evening rush hour, but customers were told to expect delays.

Train services were expected to return to normal by 2000 BST.

On Monday morning the A22 was closed both ways in East Grinstead, the A26 was shut at Eridge Green and the A21 near Tunbridge Wells because of the wintry weather.

Fallen trees and signalling problems caused severe disruption to trains between Tonbridge and Hastings and between Crowborough and Uckfield.

EDF Energy said staff had to be called in from holidays and days off to restore supplies as quickly as possible.

In pictures: South East snow

Up to 30 trees fell on the railway line between Tonbridge and Hastings and thousands of travellers had to transfer to buses to bypass blocked routes.

Over-running engineering work also closed the line between Tonbridge and Paddock Wood.

Disruption was expected to last all day, although a shuttle train service was running between Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge by midday.

An ambulance was caught in snow in Kent in the early hours of Monday, but it was not on an emergency call.

Kent County Council operations engineer Peter Lott said the snow was not expected, but gritters set out from 2130 BST on Sunday.

"We were expecting it to rain for most of the night with a few snow showers mixed in," he said.

"It was a surprise to everyone that the snow was so intense."

Several trees fell across the roads because of the weight of snow.