JOIN USBritain was hit by more blizzards that shut its biggest airports on the busiest weekend for travellers before Christmas and hit road and rail traffic.
London Heathrow, the world’s busiest international passenger airport, closed both runways until at least Sunday morning to clear the snow, while London Gatwick also closed its runway for several hours.
British Airways cancelled all short-haul departures from both airports on Saturday, with all long-haul flights from Heathrow scrapped for most of the day.
Flights were also grounded at Stansted and Luton airports near London, at Birmingham airport in Britain’s second city and Southampton airport for at least part of the day.
Eurostar, which operates high-speed passenger trains linking London with Paris and Brussels, was operating with speed restrictions that added up to an hour on journey times.
Four people were killed in traffic accidents across Britain. In Lancashire, northwest England, hundreds of people had to spend the night in their cars after an accident blocked the main north-south motorway.
Temperatures dropped as low as minus 17 degrees Celsius in eastern England.
Frankfurt airport cancelled about 170 flights on Saturday because of the severe winter weather across Europe, an airport spokesman said.
German carrier Lufthansa advised passengers to take the train rather than fly, saying tickets for flights could be used on the railways. Dozens of flights were also cancelled at Amsterdam’s Schiphol.