Snow has caused travel disruption across the United Kingdom, with no let up expected until early next week.

A white Christmas appears to be on the cards, with ten inches of snow expected in some areas over the next 24-hours alone.

But for many the festive scenes have provoked frustration at the lack of preparation among authorities.

Airports in Norwich, Aberdeen and Belfast are also closed due to heavy snow, with thousands of passengers seeing flights cancelled.

Roads have also been closed across the country, with the heaviest snowfall recorded in northern Scotland and Northern Ireland with parts of Wales and south-west England also affected.

The Met Office earlier issued heavy snow warnings for northern Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and south-west England.

Widespread ice was also expected in most parts of the UK during the rush hour.

ScotRail has introduced an amended timetable with no trains between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh, or between Ardgay and Wick.

In Wales no trains could run between Newport and Hereford and bad road conditions meant that replacement buses could not operate.

There was no service between Holyhead and Bangor.

In England Network Rail said its fleet of 21 anti-icing vehicles was once again on standby while passenger groups demanded there be no re-run of the chaotic scenes two weeks ago when trains in the South-east were halted by frozen rails.

In a statement Anthony Smith, chief executive of Passenger Focus, said: “We hope lessons have been learnt from the recent snow disruption and the industry delivers on promises that information and services to passengers will improve. Passengers understand about disruption during poor weather, but they won’t forgive inaccurate or poor information from train companies.”