More travel problems as wintry weather lingers

Another blast of wintry weather led to more problems for travellers today, with forecasters predicting further snow over the weekend.

Birmingham Airport's runway, shut overnight due to the snow, was able to reopen at 6am today but passengers endured delays and cancellations.

A series of accidents led to road and lane closures on some major routes, while power supply problems caused delays to rail services in the West Midlands and the Liverpool area.

The problems at Birmingham Airport were caused by snow which extended to many parts of the UK, especially Wales and central England where some parts saw several inches settle.

A Birmingham Airport spokesman said several aircraft were currently being "repositioned" there after being diverted away from the city when the runway closed last night.

On the roads, a jack-knifed lorry caused a section of the M40 in Warwickshire to be closed, while an accident also shut a section of the M62 in Greater Manchester.

Accidents also affected traffic on the M5 in Worcestershire, the A14 in Cambridgeshire, the M55 in Lancashire and the M62 in West Yorkshire.

To add to travel problems in the West Midlands, an overhead wire problem in the Sutton Coldfield area meant the London Midland train company had to replace trains with buses between Lichfield Trent Valley and Wylde Green.

An electrical supply problem at Ainsdale in Merseyside led to delays to services run by the Merseyrail train company.

Matt Dobson, of MeteoGroup, the Press Association's weather company, said the rest of today would see a mixture of sunny spells and scattered wintry showers.

He went on: "It's going to continue to be cold, especially at night, when there are likely to be quite severe frosts with temperatures down as low as minus 6C (21F).

"There could be bands of wintry showers across the country tomorrow, while on Sunday there is the risk of a heavy area of snow from Wales into the Midlands. This could produce a couple of inches of snow in some areas."