UK snow: Britain in gridlock as big freeze brings Christmas travel misery

The travel plans of millions of people were disrupted when planes were grounded, rail services cancelled and roads rendered impassable by heavy snow. The busiest weekend before Christmas turned into a nightmare for much of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

British Airways cancelled all short-haul flights, shopping centres were forced to close and many motorways were blocked by heavy drifts of snow.

At Heathrow, scuffles broke out as staff tried to deal with thousands of stranded passengers. "People were scrambling to get on other carriers, people were panicking," one passenger told the Observer. "This is the Christmas from hell."

Last night the Met Office warned that disruption was likely to continue, with freezing weather leaving roads in an icy, treacherous state for the next few days. In many areas, night-time temperatures will plunge to minus 10C or below. The conditions are likely to make this the coldest December on record, with a current average temperature of minus 0.7C, five degrees under the long-term average.

The disruption that has ensued – the second serious episode of weather chaos to hit travel in Britain this month – led to calls from senior politicians yesterday for the government to make radical improvements in its ability to deal with cold weather. Louise Ellman, Labour chair of the Commons transport select committee, said it was no longer sufficient for ministers to brush away criticism by saying the severe conditions were exceptional.

"This is now the third bad winter in a row. We need to establish whether we think there may be a change of weather patterns and if so respond accordingly," she said. "We should be able to respond to these events better." Ellman said her committee would investigate what had gone wrong. "Clearly it is something we will have to look into."

Amid chaos on the roads, a man was killed after the ambulance in which he was being treated skidded off the road near Eastbourne, East Sussex. The man, who was last night named by police as Daniel Martin, 31, had suffered life-threatening injuries in a crash between his Mini and a flatbed truck.

The driver of the lorry – a 36-year-old man from St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, who was working for a contractor operating on behalf of East Sussex county council – was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and held in custody overnight on Friday.

In another incident, a 19-year-old man was stabbed in the neck in Sheffield after asking a group of teenagers to stop throwing snowballs.

Snow caused havoc at airports. Heathrow and Gatwick were both closed while flights at Aberdeen, Belfast City, Cardiff, London City and Southampton airports were also disrupted.

In Northern Ireland, freezing conditions continued to make travel hazardous following some of the heaviest snowfall for 25 years – with more forecast. The Northern Ireland Roads Service said slush from Friday had frozen overnight and Christmas shoppers should think carefully before setting out by car.

Jon Caudwell, from the Highways Agency, said it was doing its best to keep major roads in England clear but needed help from motorists who should "really seriously consider" whether they needed to go out this weekend.

In the rest of Europe some 2,500 passengers were stranded overnight at Frankfurt airport in Germany after flights were cancelled; Florence airport, in northern Italy, was closed and hundreds of cars were stuck on highways in Tuscany; in France, snow has affected road and rail travel in the west and north and Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport is reporting delays; in the Netherlands, many flights have been cancelled at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

Coastguard rescue teams were called in to assist the NHS to ensure doctors, that nurses and midwives reached hospitals. Volunteers helped with kidney patient transfers and with the delivery of essential drugs.

Shoppers also suffered as snow forced many to abandon their trips. Brent Cross shopping centre in north London was forced to close. By contrast, shops in the West End remained open and reported reasonable business.

"Although footfall was slightly down on forecasts, many retailers have reported sales up on last year with jewellery selling fast and technology strong including 3D TVs and the Apple iPads," said a spokesman.

In the Trafford Centre in Manchester, staff have used more than 20 tons of grit across the 150-acre site over 24 hours. They worked through the night to ensure that roads were safe and car parks ready to open.