Travel chaos for Scots as snow closes airports amid -11C freeze with more on way

SCOTS have been hit with fresh travel chaos as snow and ice batter the country.

Much of the UK was blasted with wintry weather overnight with many waking up to a deep freeze after sub-zero temperatures caused the mercury to plummet.

4

4

4

The coldest spot last night was Loch Glascarnoch between Ullapool and Inverness in the Highlands where the mercury fell to a bone-chilling -11C.

Manchester and Liverpool airports closed their runways on Sunday morning due to snow with some flights being diverted to Scottish airports.

The world’s largest passenger plane Emirates A380 diverted from Manchester to Glasgow airport as it returned from Dubai last night.

And nine flights bound for London Stansted were diverted elsewhere with four sent to Edinburgh, one to Glasgow and one to Glasgow Prestwick.

Birmingham airport suspending operations for several hours last night but say it is “business as usual” this morning.

And Bristol airport passengers faced delays to the baggage retrieval amid two rare amber warnings for snow south of the border.

Up to 40cm of snow was forecast in some areas, which could also impact rail and road journeys between Scotland and England on Sunday.

Further north, the Met Office issued a yellow warning for widespread ice lasting until 10am this morning affecting the northwest Highlands, Skye, Western and Northern Isles and along the coast of Moray and north Aberdeenshire.

Motorists have been warned to be aware of black ice where wintry showers fall onto sub-zero ground causing treacherous driving conditions on untreated roads.

A second yellow alert for snow and ice is in place in the east coast and south of the country between 9am TODAY and 6am on Monday.

Forecasters has cautioned travellers over the potential for some roads and railways to be impacted in the coming hours.

The wintry conditions could mean longer journey times by road, buses and train services with the probability of icy patches on untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths.

There is the risk of some injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces.

The snow and ice alerts cover Angus, Dundee, Falkirk, Fife, Perth and Kinross, Stirling, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Highland, Edinburgh, Midlothian, West Lothian, and parts of East Lothian, North Lanarkshire, and South Lanarkshire.

East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway, and the Scottish Borders will also be impacted.

But eight council areas are set to avoid the ice and snow warnings.

These include Argyll and Bute, East Dunbartonshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, and West Dunbartonshire.

The heavy snow, remaining ice and freezing temperatures could cause disruptions to those returning to work and the first day back at school after the Christmas holidays tomorrow.

 The AA urged anyone driving on Sunday or Monday to make sure vehicles left unused over Christmas and New Year are properly road-worthy.

The motoring organisation is anticipating 20 distress calls per minute – amounting to 14,000 over the course of the day.

Chief faults are expected to be flat batteries and frozen engines.

Chris Wood, AA Patrol of the Year, said: “The first working day back in January is one of the busiest days of the year for breakdowns, with flat batteries and flat tyres the main culprits.

“A third of households have more than one car but over Christmas, only one tends to get used for visiting friends and family or to hit the Boxing Day sales.

“The main commuter car often gets left unused, which means problems go unnoticed until it’s time to head back to work.”