Nightmare drive to work, schools closed

Snow on Ripponden Road, Grains Bar

HEAVY snow led to road closures and schools being unable to open in Oldham today.

Snow fell in the borough overnight with heavy downfalls beginning again before 6am.

Blue Coat, Alexandra Park School, Greenfield School, SS Aiden and Oswalds RC primary school, St Chads CofE Primary School and Alt Infant and Junior Schools were among those which did not open while others delayed opening until later in the day.

Commuters faced a nightmare drive to work during this morning's rush hour.

Buckstones Road in Shaw was closed and several bus routes were affected by the snow and were unable to complete their full routes.

Oldham Council said that, as of 5am they had gritted 3,239 miles of roads in Oldham since Wednesday and would continue to grit primary routes during the day.

Nationally, the Met Office has issued severe weather warnings across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland for combinations of high winds, snow and ice.

The Environment Agency has 12 severe flood warnings - which warn of a danger to life - in place for coastal areas of Essex and Suffolk while dozens of flood warnings have been imposed in readyness of a storm surge down the North Sea.

Emergency services were putting an evacuation plan into action in Jaywick, near Clacton-on-Sea, with police officers going door-to-door informing residents of the evacuation, which started at 7am. About 100 soldiers from the Catterick army base have been deployed to Skegness where about 3,000 residents have been urged to leave their homes.