ITN News / ITN news on Friday 18th December
Recent winter weather and snowfall has thrown the United Kingdom into chaos.
In some of the worst hit parts of the country roads are littered with abandoned cars. As temperatures rallied into positive figures today many were returning to retrieve their vehicles. A number of people are reported to have been trapped in their cars overnight in sub zero temperatures.
Public transport systems have also been disrupted. Eurostar train services from Europe suffered a number of break downs due to snow getting into the train power systems. Around 2000 Eurostar passengers were trapped for up to 16 hours in the Channel tunnel. Some passengers have experienced panic attacks and there have been some cases of extreme claustrophobia prompting some to leave their trains and attempt to walk to a station.
Eurostar report that they are now returning to a normal high speed train service, after three days out of action. There are now huge queues of stranded passengers to deal with in both France and the UK.
As the cold wintery weather persists the National Health Service have advised people to stay at home and only go outdoors if their journey is essential. Hospitals have reported unprecedented numbers of people injured as a result of falling on icy pavements.
With Christmas only days away many people are being forced to venture onto icy pavements in order to carry out their Christmas shopping. This is forcing people to leave their homes and venture forth onto treacherous pavements.
Discussions have already begun regarding how well the UK has coped with this latest round of bad weather. While main roads were quickly treated with grit and salt many smaller side roads remained untreated and most pavements and footpath were completely untreated.
In February 2009 the UK was plunged into icy Arctic conditions when winter weather caused traffic chaos, school closures and disruption on a massive scale. This latest period of bad weather has prompted many people to ask why the UK suffers so much when winter comes along.
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