10.55am

MOST buses were halted in Huddersfield mid morning after snow and ice caused chaos on the roads.

Even town centre roads were badly iced up as people struggled to get into work.

And by 10.30am this morning all First Buses were suspended after it was deemed the conditions were too treacherous to continue until gritters could get more salt down.

Halifax Road from Ainley Top into Huddersfield town centre was the worst hit after a lorry got stuck at the top of Fitzwilliam Street. Traffic inched forward and it was far quicker to walk into work.

Other roads were covered in snow and ice as gritters struggled to grapple with the huge problems.

Highways spokesman Mark Dobson said: "The sheer weight of snow caused us problems along with abandoned cars, but by the end of today we should have all our primary routes back in action. We have struggled with the snow since Sunday."

The picture in Kirklees

HEAVY snow closed the majority of schools and colleges across Kirklees and brought general chaos.

But one of the highest schools in the country remained open.

Scapegoat Hill Junior and Infant School is the second highest school above sea level in England.

But yesterday’s atrocious weather failed to deter either pupils or staff who arrived ready for the new school week.

Scores of schools across the area were shut in the heaviest snowfall for two decades and many were likely to be closed today.

But at Scapegoat Hill, headteacher Keith Shilton said 52 of the schools 72 pupils had turned in along with the majority of teaching staff.

“Most of our staff live close by and have walked in. I live in Mirfield and the routes were clear because of the work of council gritting teams,” he said.

“We have a whole school policy which advises pupils, parents and staff not to attend if it is unsafe to do so.

“We have opened today, but if the situation deteriorates, as reports are predicting we may decide to start sending children home.”

Clr Ken Smith, Kirklees Council Cabinet member for schools, said the snow had caused severe disruption, but he had the main concern was safety for pupils and teaching staff.

A spokesman for the Department of Children Families and Schools said:

"It is for individual schools to make any decision to close but we expect Headteachers to take a common sense approach based on the conditions at the school and also the safety of any pupils travelling.

"We would hope that headteachers can keep schools open while it is safe for them to do so, but decisions about closure have to be taken locally by those who know the local conditions.

"There will be occasions when they have to close because of adverse weather, and many areas are experiencing extreme weather conditions today, so we expect school closures.

Bus and train services were also severely disrupted and passenger transport executive Metro advised people to check websites to see which services were affected.

Services to Chickenley in Dewsbury were particularly badly affected but many buses continued to run on major routes. First, Arriva and K-line services were all hit.

The bad weather also caused severe problems for refuse collection vehicles, especially on side roads.

Householders were asked on the Kirklees Council website to present their bins on the normal day and keep presenting them until they could be emptied.

They were also advised to keep checking the web site for further updates.

l Freezing temperatures have hit homeless people living on the streets of Kirklees.

Kirklees Council has taken five people into bed and breakfast accommodation since Friday (Jan 30) when temperatures started to plummet.

Under the Government’s Cold Weather provision rules, if the temperature is below freezing for three nights councils must provide overnight shelter for homeless people.

In Huddersfield, people are referred for this by housing offices or the Huddersfield Methodist Mission at Lord Street.

The picture nationally

THOUSANDS of people were left stranded as the heaviest snowfall to hit the UK in 18 years swept across the country, causing travel chaos and closing thousands of schools.

Air, rail and road services were all severely disrupted as Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the authorities were doing “everything in our power” to ensure the resumption of key transport links.

An army of snow ploughs and gritters were working round-the-clock to clear roads as much of the UK was blanketed in snow.

Major airports closed runways and all British Airways flights from Heathrow Airport were cancelled until 5pm, as were all bus services in London and dozens of trains during the morning rush hour.

One snapshot survey of more than 300 employers found one in five adults stayed away from work because of the extreme weather.

Speaking at a press conference with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the Foreign Office in London, Mr Brown said: “We are doing everything in our power to ensure that the services - road, rail and airports - are open as quickly as possible and we are continuously monitoring this throughout the day.”

London mayor Boris Johnson later suspended the city’s congestion charge as a gesture of thanks to workers who were trying to keep the capital moving.

Motorists, who were warned only to make essential journeys, were caught in tailbacks of more than 50 miles and queues of up to two-and-a-half hours as they battled against the heavy snow across the country.