Graphic: cost of the freeze

With foot-high drifts blocking roads, pupils sent home from school and many trains and buses cancelled, it was the perfect excuse for a “snow day”.

As children woke to the type of snow seen only on skiing holidays and Christmas cards, many of their parents gave up battling against the elements and decided to join them sledging and building snowmen.

A snap survey of employers estimated that one in five workers took yesterday off as a “snow day”, with industry experts calculating that the chaos could cost the economy up to £3 billion.

Four out five of those workers who did fight their way into the office arrived late, according to the survey by the employment law firm Peninsula. But at least a quarter of bosses said they would be able to leave early. By mid-morning most people had given up trying to go anywhere.

There was already 11cm (4.5in) of snow at Heathrow, 25cm over the North Downs in Kent and Surrey, 8cm along the eastern side of the Pen-nines and 1cm across the Welsh border. And it kept on snowing.

Commuters who did brave the journey to work faced long delays, and Tube carriages in London were packed with passengers discussing how a few inches of snow had brought the capital to a standstill.

“We’re not in Russia here,” a spokesman for Transport for London explained. “We don’t have an infra-structure built for constant snow.”

Boris Johnson, the Mayor, did not quite blame the “wrong type of snow” when explaining why the capital’s roads were so dangerous that not a single bus was running. “The difficulty really has been that the volume of snow has been so huge,” he said. “You can put down the grit, put down the salt, but then it simply snows over it again.”

The Association of Train Operating Companies said that the key “spinal” rail routes into London should be working by today. Maintenance teams were due to spend the night clearing tracks with snow ploughs.

Helen Hill, the director of policy and public affairs at the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the closure of the Tube lines alone could cost the capital £48 million in lost productivity.

The weather also claimed the lives of two brothers. Christopher Mc-Callion, 29, a full-time triathlete, and James, 35, died after being stranded on Snowdon over the weekend. Their bodies were discovered yesterday morning huddled next to each other in terrain that suggested that they had fallen as far as 300 metres.

Christopher, who leaves a wife and baby son, had recently recovered from a leg injury and was training alongside James to take part in marathons and the UK Iron Man Triathlon this year. His father-in-law, John Cox, 70, of Severn Beach, Bristol, said: “They checked the weather conditions before they set off but they were both very experienced climbers and sensible lads so we had no reason to worry. They were due back early on Sunday evening but when they didn’t arrive it was the first time we realised something could be wrong.” Ambulances and casualty departments were inundated with patients suffering falls and by an increase in road accidents. A London Ambulance Service spokesman said that it would only respond to “life-threatening calls” as the heavy snow and dangerous driving conditions meant that it was under “severe pressure”.

Those seeking an escape to the sun found the snow had also thwarted them. Passengers inside Terminal 5 at Heathrow were told that all flights had been cancelled and asked to leave the building. But the message did little to ease overcrowding since they had nowhere to go with taxis limited and hotels full.

Yesterday afternoon some flights were taking off but there were significant delays and passengers were warned that they would not be able to travel to some destinations for at least two days. Many West End productions were cancelled, including Oliver!, the English National Opera’s premiere of La Bohème and the Royal Opera House’sDie Tote Stadt. All race meetings – even those on supposedly all-weather surfaces – were abandoned and Arsenal announced the cancellation of the FA Cup replay with Cardiff tonight.

But for anyone under 18, yesterday was the first time that they had seen the streets and gardens of the South East full enough to make a decent snowman. Their joy was compounded as the closure of 2,800 schools meant an unexpected day (or possibly more) away from lessons.

The 110-metre high artificial slope in Southampton was closed on safety grounds after inspectors said that snow was covering warning signs.

The snow was bad news for a suspected burglar who was arrested after police followed footprints from the Ivy Leaf Club in Burnhope, Co Durham.

For the superstitious there is little hope of the Arctic conditions ending soon. Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog, emerged from his burrow just after dawn in front of an estimated 13,000 witnesses in Pennsylvania. The hibernating animal cast a shadow on Groundhog Day, February 2, and, according to tradition, winter will thus last another six weeks.

Cities that cope

Chicago
The world’s most famous Chicagoan praised the “flinty” residents of his hometown after witnessing Washington DC’s wimpish response to a modest snowfall when he moved into the White House. President Obama said that he was shocked when less than two inches of snow shut down his daughter Sasha’s school.

The last time that the Chicago school system was shut down was on January 4-5, 1999, when nearly 2ft of snow fell. Chicago gets an average of 38in of snow a year with a record of 89.7in in 1978-79.

Ottawa
Canadians are so hardy that some commuters skied to work when public transport workers in the capital went on strike recently. The Government simply said it was up to workers to find their own way into the office. Those who did not make it had to use up a day’s leave.

The 51-day stoppage, in the midst of one of the coldest winters in many years, led to an estimated 40 per cent increase in private cars on the roads as office workers pooled cars and the city paid for taxis to ferry some commuters to work. One woman reported walking 12 hours a day round-trip to get to her grocery shop job. Others even risked cycling to work.

Residents consider heavy snowfall normal. A 6in (15cm) storm last week caused flight delays but did not close the airport. Ottawa had 171.9in of snowfall last winter, just 4in short of the record set in 1970-71. For many it is an invitation to take to the ice hockey rink – or take part in this month’s annual Winterlude triathlon.

Moscow
Russians are well prepared for the battle with nature. Some 2,500 snowploughs are on standby to roll into action whenever there is a fall in Moscow. Behind them tractors and container lorries scoop up the snow to transport it out of the capital to one of forty-six dumping points.

The city employs 50,000 workers to keep Moscow’s roads passable and to sweep snow and ice from major pedestrian streets. Trains, buses and airports all operate and the underground appears to function with none of the frozen points or electrical problems that dog the Tube.

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