Keep those sledges and shovels at hand. We may already have had as much as ten inches of snow – but it seems things are only going to get worse.

Snow and ice will continue to wreak havoc across the country for days, forecasters have warned, with conditions likely to become increasingly treacherous.

After a day in which heavy snowfall closed schools and airports and caused gridlock across Britain, the Met Office warned that two more nights of freezing weather could make travel even more dangerous.