Snow blows in to Britain

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Commuters and air passengers faced delays and disruption across much of Britain on Friday after heavy snowfalls with the forecaster saying more was on the way.

The Met Office said up to 20cm of snow could fall in southern and eastern parts of England while some northern areas also were affected as wintry weather and freezing temperatures caused road, rail and air travel problems.

Essex Police said they had dealt with 180 incidents related to the bad weather between 10pm on Thursday and 5am on Friday (local time), with blizzards stranding 70 lorries on the A120 out of Harwich on the eastern coast.

"With further snow forecast over the next few days I would advise people to make journeys only if they are absolutely necessary," Chief Inspector Jon Dodman, head of an emergency special operations centre at Essex Police, said.

Early flights to and from Gatwick and Luton Airports were cancelled due to snowfall on the runways.

"We are working closely with our airline and business partners to re-open the runway as soon as it is safe to do so," Gatwick Airport said on its website.

Luton said it hoped to reopen at 7am.

Rail Operators said some train services across southern England had been cancelled or were suffering severe delays, although most were expecting to run a full service throughout the day.

After Friday, the belt of snow showers will move northwest, across northern Ireland, western and northern Scotland and into Wales and northwest England. Although the bookies are slashing their odds for a white Christmas, the Met Office says it is still too early to predict whether the snow will continue into late next week.

- Reuters