Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

UK airports shut in heavy snow

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-05 16:27

LONDON -- A deluge of snow across Britain on Thursday forced the suspension flights at Birmingham, Luton and East Midlands airports and disrupted road and rail travel.

A woman struggles through the snow in Aviemore, Scotland, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009. The heavy snow that brought most of London to a standstill on Monday is now affected large areas of Scotland. [Agencies]

Related readings:  Sapporo snow festival in Japan  Heavy snow in Britain causes travel chaos  Heavy snow causes chaos in Europe  Snow, fog, rain likely to disrupt festival travel

The Met Office, which has weather warnings in place for much of England, Scotland and Wales, said it expected further snowfall this weekend following a week that has seen the heaviest snow for nearly 20 years in some parts of Britain.

Runways at Birmingham, Luton and East Midlands airports were closed for clearing, with flights expected to resume later in the day, the airports said.

"It was like painting the Forth Bridge -- as soon as you cleared the runway or the tarmac it was still coming down," a spokeswoman for Birmingham International Airport said.

National Rail said train services in Wales, Yorkshire and central and south west England were affected by delays and cancellations.

The Highways Agency said traffic was moving slowly on main routes but that so far none had been closed because of the snow.