Snows disrupts travel and closes schools amid weather warnings

A yellow weather warning is in force across much of Scotland.

Britain is currently in the grip of wintry weather (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Heavy snow has disrupted travel and led to school closures as wintry conditions sweep Scotland.

Much of mainland Scotland is covered by a Met Office yellow warning for snow and ice, while an amber alert for snow in the central belt expired at midday on Friday.

Police Scotland has issued a travel warning for the whole of Scotland advising people to travel with caution, with snowy conditions affecting many roads.

Air passengers were also affected as the runway at Glasgow Airport was closed during the morning while snow and ice was cleared. It reopened at around 11.30am.

Many schools around the country were shut due to the weather, including some in Aberdeenshire, the Highlands and Perth and Kinross.

In Shetland, engineers have been working to reconnect thousands of homes which lost power on Monday afternoon as heavy snow brought down lines.

Traffic Scotland said on Friday morning that snow was affecting many major trunk roads and urged people to drive with care.

The yellow warning of snow and ice on the mainland is in force until 9pm on Friday, while a yellow warning of ice has been issued for much of central and southern Scotland, north east and north west England, the East and West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber and Wales from 9pm on Friday until mid-morning on Saturday.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution said that as of 1pm on Friday, around 1,600 properties remain without power in parts of Voe, Brae and West Mainland in Shetland.

Following the arrival of additional crews and equipment, around 150 engineers are now battling snow and ice to rebuild overhead power lines and reconnect properties to the network.

Mark Macdonald, head of region at SSEN Distribution, said: “Teams of engineers have been out in force since first light this morning to continue restoring power to homes and businesses across Shetland. We’d like to thank our customers for their patience and reassure them that an increased 150-strong team is out across the islands today working to reconnect supplies as quickly as possible.

“We expect to make sustained progress throughout the day, reconnecting customers area-by-area by rebuilding sections of network, connecting mobile generation and undertaking engineering solutions to restore power faster, before making permanent repairs.”

SSEN said it expects to continue making progress over the next 48 hours and is targeting the restoration of the large majority of supplies by Sunday.

However it is anticipated that some small clusters of properties in the West Mainland, particularly west of Bixter, will be reconnected on Monday.

Scottish Cabinet secretary Keith Brown visited Shetland on Thursday to chair a resilience meeting with members of the community and energy firm bosses.

He attended Bixter Community Hall to talk to residents, representatives from SSEN and Police Scotland teams, before chairing a further meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Room.

Mr Brown, the minister for resilience, said: “The situation in the west of Shetland remains extremely difficult for many people and businesses without power.

“There has been a fantastic community and cross-partner response. I met a range of residents at Bixter Hall today and what has struck me most is the huge team effort at play in a set of very difficult circumstances.

“Everyone is mucking in and helping each other, from making food and keeping each other’s spirits up, to checking on vulnerable members of the community. It really is quite extraordinary.”