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. Many were attempting to retrieve their vehicles as temperatures began to increase a little today. A number of people are reported to have been trapped in their cars overnight in sub zero temperatures.

There has been extensive disruption to public transport with many train cancellations. 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 reported suffering from claustrophobia, some from panic attacks and many have complained about the lack of information.

After three consecutive days with no service Eurostar have now begun to resume normal operation of their high speed train service. There are now huge queues of stranded passengers to deal with in both France and the UK.

The National Health service has told people to stay at home unless their journey is essential. Hospital accident and emergency departments have reported huge numbers of people requiring treatment for injuries sustained as a result of falls 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 many people to go out onto dangerous, icy footpaths.

People are already discussing how badly the UK has managed this latest period of wintery weather. Councils have been quick to treat main roads with salt and grit but many side roads and most pavements have remained untreated and dangerous.

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 bad weather is prompting many to ask if the UK is capable of dealing with intense winter weather.

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