There were cancellations of flights departing or arriving at Heathrow, with British Airways axing at least 103 services on mostly short haul routes.

London City Airport saw at least 98 flights cancelled. An additional six inbound flights were diverted or returned to their departure airports.

BA's business class only service from New York to London City was forced to land at Gatwick, West Sussex, while the carrier's flight from Frankfurt ended up touching down in Birmingham, 110 miles away.

All flights due to land at Leeds Bradford Airport before 4.30pm on Wednesday were either cancelled or diverted, and many departures were also unable to operate.

Shortly before noon Ryanair suspended all flights to and from Dublin Airport for the rest of Wednesday as a result of the snow which swept into Ireland overnight.

Glasgow Airport closed its runway from around 7am until 1pm.

Gatwick Airport said flights were arriving and departing, but some flights were disrupted.

Road closures, stranded vehicles and cancellations were widespread due to snow and ice.

Police closed large sections of major routes as several roads were left impassable following heavy snowfall.

Drivers were advised to avoid unnecessary journeys and stick to major routes where possible if they had to travel.

The RAC had its busiest day in 10 years on Tuesday with 9500 call-outs, but believes this figure could be topped on Wednesday as conditions worsened.

Rail passengers across Britain suffered from delays and cancellations on Wednesday, with almost all operators affected by the conditions.

Travellers have been warned to avoid going to or from Scotland on Wednesday or Thursday.

ScotRail urged commuters in the red warning area to head home as services will wind down on Wednesday afternoon.

Virgin Trains East Coast lifted its ticket restrictions for services on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Dozens of Southeastern services were unable to run due to problems in several locations.

There were cancellations on the Medway Valley Line after train crew were unable to get to depots because of the heavy snow.

A snow clearing vehicle broke down and blocked the Ashford-bound line at Wye, while there was major disruption on metro routes between Dartford and London via Woolwich, Bexleyheath and Sidcup because of signalling faults caused by the weather.

Delays and cancellations on the c2c line from south Essex into London Fenchurch Street were worsened by freezing doors which prevented some passengers getting on and off trains.

Australian Associated Press