MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK paralyzed by snow storm and more forecasted

All services suspended

Tens of thousands of people were left stranded Monday as the heaviest snowfall to hit the United Kingdom in 18 years swept across the country, causing travel chaos and closing thousands of schools. And more snow is on the way. Helen Chivers, a forecaster with the Met Office, said a large area of sleet and snow showers was moving out of France on its way to the UK.

For recession hit British industry the snowfall is costing an estimated £ 1.2 billion as millions of people missed work. It is estimated one in five employees were unable to get to work because of the travel chaos caused by the snow and many others were late or only stayed in work for a few hours. Air, rail and road services were all severely disrupted as Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the authorities were doing "everything in our power" to ensure the resumption of key transport links. An army of snow ploughs and gritters were working round-the-clock to clear roads as much of the UK was blanketed in snow. Major airports closed runways and all British Airways flights from Heathrow Airport were cancelled until 5pm, as were all bus services in London and dozens of trains during the morning rush hour. On the London Underground, 10 of the 11 lines were either completely or partly suspended as the "quantity of snowfall" disrupted services, a Transport for London spokesman said Motorists, who were warned only to make essential journeys, were caught in tailbacks of more than 50 miles and queues of up to two-and-a-half hours as they battled against the heavy snow across the country. There were 11cm of snow at Heathrow Airport, 25cm over the North Downs in Kent and Surrey, 8cm along the eastern side of the Pennines and 1cm across the Welsh border. More than a thousand primary and secondary schools were forced to shut their doors due to the adverse weather conditions. Schools in southern England were among the worst affected. The Federation of Small Businesses said the cost of the bad weather to the UK economy was so high because of "stalled" contracts, cheques not banked, and purchases of small items such as sandwiches suffering as a result of people staying at home. It called for a wide-ranging debate on the UK's infrastructure and the country's ability to respond to bad weather. The Rail Maritime and Transport union said the havoc caused to Britain's transport system underlined the "failings" of a fragmented rail network and the "folly" of cuts in the number of front-line staff. General Secretary Bob Crow said: "The snowstorms sweeping Britain have highlighted the importance of having enough front-line staff and how the ability to plan for weather emergencies has been undermined by the fragmentation of rail network". "In decades past, without the benefit of modern forecasting methods, a publicly owned and unified railway network deploying sufficient front-line staff was better able to mitigate some of the worst effects of winter weather", he underlined.