Schoolgirl killed by falling tree as snow causes chaos

A schoolgirl was killed by a falling tree as a sudden shift in weather systems plunged large areas of Britain into snowbound chaos yesterday.

Winds of 30mph over the past few days were believed to have weakened the tree which collapsed in relatively calm conditions on to a primary school playground in Surrey, killing Rianna Davenport, aged eight. The accident left a further four pupils injured at West Ashtead school, near Leatherhead.

It is thought that Rianna was among classmates queuing to go into the lunch hall when the 15m (50ft) Corsican pine fell.

A seven-year-old pupil described how the tree fell just yards from where she was standing, trapping two children underneath. "It just fell down with a big bang and everyone rushed to the classrooms. It was very frightening – just a huge crash.''

The girl said one of her friends was scratched by branches as the tree fell. One of the four other injured pupils suffered a broken leg.

The accident came three days after a falling tree crushed a soft-top car and killed the driver in Barnet, north London.

Meanwhile, motorists from Aberdeenshire to Buckinghamshire found heavy snow showers causing a treacherous combination of slippery road surfaces and poor visibility yesterday, just five days after a Highland village had recorded Scotland's warmest January day since records began.

AA Roadwatch reported cars spinning out of control and lorries jack-knifing as East Anglia, North Yorkshire and the Thames Valley suffered heavy snowfalls. For a time, police asked motorists to avoid the M40 in Oxfordshire altogether. A van hit the central reservation between junctions 9 and 10, blocking both carriageways, and at junction 4several lorries jack-knifed.

A series of accidents on the M6 near Birmingham – the worst of which, near the junction with the M5, involved a lorry – caused problems on both motorways.

Blizzard conditions sweeping the North-east were blamed for a 20-car shunt on a busy northbound stretch of the A19 in North Yorkshire in the morning rush hour. Three lorries and a van were blown over within 30 minutes on the A171 between Whitby and Guisborough, and police warned all high-sided vehicles to stay clear of the route.

In Lincolnshire 10,000 people were left without heating and light, and some 30 schools were closed early.

Further south, heavy snow showers made driving conditions difficult on the M4. Late-afternoon snowfalls led to chaotic conditions for commuters in south-east England, with mainline and Tube services north and west of London severely disrupted.

The sudden change in the weather came a shock in northern Scotland, where all schools in Orkney were closed. On Sunday, the Boat Inn in the Aberdeenshire town of Aboyne was basking in 17.7C (64F) conditions – warmer than the Mediterranean, North Africa and Florida – and staff were doing a roaring trade in cold drinks to hordes of shirt-sleeved tourists. Yesterday, the town awoke to six inches of snow. "This valley is prone to highs and lows – but how peculiar is that?" said the landlord, William Forbes.

Meteorologists said the change in temperature was caused by a rapid turnaround in wind direction. Although south-westerlies blowing up from the Azores to provide Sunday's hot weather were unusual, it was predictable that they should be quickly replaced by northerly winds from the Arctic. A spokesman for PA WeatherCentre warned that there was worse to come for much of Britain, with the entire eastern side of the country facing an overnight battering. "It is going to be very cold and windy with a high wind chill factor, with snow showers continuing in some areas on and off for the next 24 hours," he said. Temperatures could drop as low as minus 6C (21F).