Icy weather warning for England's roads

Motorists throughout England are being warned about icy roads as sub-zero temperatures make driving hazardous.

The Met Office issued severe weather alerts warning of icy conditions for most parts of England, while more heavy snow is predicted for the North West.

Snow falls across the country eased off on Friday, but many flights and train services are still delayed.

Cumbria Police revealed two pensioners were found dead in their gardens amid the freezing conditions.

Health services have needed help getting to stranded patients. Elsewhere, farmers have reported problems getting feed to animals.

Motorists in areas most affected by the weather are being advised to travel only if necessary.

Severe weather warnings for icy roads are in place for the North West, West Midlands, East Midlands, East, South West, London and the South East.

Temperatures plummeted to as a low as -10C in the south east of England overnight.

Surrey Police said the anti-clockwise section of the M25 at Clacket Lane services was closed on Saturday morning after a lorry collided with a coach.

It is not known if the weather conditions contributed to the accident at 0200 GMT.

The AA said it was dealing with about two-and-a-half thousand calls an hour.

In East Yorkshire one man died and another was seriously injured in a crash in the freezing conditions which has left the M62 closed from junction 35.

Humberside Police said the crash involved a car and a lorry on the eastbound carriageway of the motorway between junctions 35 and 36, near Goole, at 1151 GMT.

On Thursday night, a 57-year-old man died after he was hit by a vehicle which skidded on ice on the A6108 at Bellerby, North Yorkshire. The victim had gone to help a driver whose car had crashed.

Cumbria Police said pensioners William Wilson, 84, and Lillian Jenkinson, 80, had been found dead in separate incidents.

The body of Mrs Jenkinson, of Workington, was found in her garden on Wednesday, while Mr Wilson's body was found on Tuesday.

Roof damage

The deaths have prompted authorities to urge people to take extra care and look out for one another.

In Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, the weight of snow caused the roof of the entrance to a Tesco supermarket to collapse.

No-one was injured and the store at Glanford Park has since reopened after being evacuated for a short time.

In Grimsby, Nunsthorpe Community School will be closed all next week because heavy snowfall has caused serious damage to the building, and the Smith and Nephew medical products plant in Hull has been closed until next week after heavy snow damaged the roof.

A mountain rescue team in Lancashire came to the aid of a kidney patient who was unable to get to dialysis due to heavy snow.

The man, from Weir, was taken for treatment in Burnley by the Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team.

There have been serious problems for travellers and many of them continue.

•Gatwick Express trains are suspended. Southern trains are stopping at Gatwick but are limited.

•Eurostar is operating a reduced service with delays.

•Durham Tees Valley Airport is closed

•Robin Hood Airport in Doncaster will be closed until Sunday

•Disruption at London City Airport and Heathrow Airport

'Problematic' weather

Gatwick reopened on Friday morning after being shut for two days due to snow while Southampton Airport reopened at 1300 GMT after being forced to close for a second time overnight due to ice on the runway.

Southeastern trains was forced to defend its decision to run an "extremely limited" service over the past few days.

Southeastern has been heavily criticised by passengers who were left stuck on trains for several hours or unable to get home for days.

The firm's spokeswoman Sarah Boundy said staff had worked round the clock to run the best service it could given the "very problematic" weather.

Lincolnshire farmer John Crest, who has 600 sheep and 4,000 pigs near Washingborough, said the reliability of feed deliveries was being affected by the weather.

"My feed comes from Yorkshire or near Ipswich so my main issue is can the lorries get up the A17 and down the A15 to keep the pigs in feed," he said.

"It's critical the pigs have regular feed and regular water, and if you don't have that they will break down with disease and stress and then you have a nightmare on your hands."

Residents in north Kent were left to face the freezing conditions without power after an electrical fault affected more than 1,000 homes.

UK Power Networks said engineers were working to restore supplies to customers in Gillingham.