Slush-hour ... gridlock on the M60 in Manchester
ARCTIC weather conditions left Britain's transport system in the grip of chaos last night.
Motorists were warned to make only essential journeys as gritting teams battled to keep roads open.
Many holiday plans were wrecked when Eurostar suspended all rail services to France after a series of breakdowns.
coach at Manchester airport
Travellers were stranded in London and Paris, with more than 55,000 affected by cancellations.
Flights were halted for 90 minutes at Manchester airport yesterday when snow and ice closed the only runway in use.
Bookies slashed the odds of a white Christmas in London to 2/1 - the lowest in 30 years.
And MORE snow is expected today, with temperatures plunging to -6°C (21°F). The top temperature will not exceed 2°C (35°F) anywhere.
North West England, Scotland and Northern Ireland saw the worst of yesterday's snow. Temperatures dropped to -5°C (23°F) in Aberdeen and -4°C (25°C) in Suffolk.
The AA had dealt with more than 7,000 breakdowns by 1pm - the normal total for 24 hours.
The M60 in Manchester shut for 45 minutes. A Highways Agency spokesman said: "The road was gritted but it needed a second go."
There was chaos on the M62 over the Pennines. And in icy conditions in Kent, three people died in a collision between a car and a truck on the A20 at Wrotham.
Lines of trucks heading for Dover waited on the M20 in Kent.
Many residential roads were not gritted but the Highways Agency said it had enough grit to keep major road networks open.
There were calls for Eurostar boss Richard Brown to resign after more than 2,000 passengers were trapped for up to 16 hours on broken down trains.
Six trains ground to a halt on Friday and Saturday, five of them in the Channel Tunnel.
No trains will run today and Eurostar said it will not sell any tickets until after December 26.
Mr Brown warned: "We will not start services again until we are sure we can get them through."
The fault was blamed on "acute weather conditions" in France. It is understood snow sucked into trains got into the electrics.
Engineers are working on the problem. But Nirj Deva, Tory MEP for the South East of England, said the company was "not adequately prepared".
Ferry operator P&O laid on coaches to get stranded Eurostar passengers on cross-Channel boats.
And there was good news as the French lifted a travel ban that left British truckers fuming.
No lorries were allowed to leave Calais and heavy vehicles were banned from motorways because of safety fears in the wintry weather.
The delays cost small British firms hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Trucker David Nixon, 45, blasted: "I was stuck for seven hours thanks to barmy decision-making by the French."
French authorities also angered air travellers by axing 40 per cent of all flights from Paris.
Flights from Manchester resumed but travellers then faced eight-hour queues just to check in.
Chris Johnson, 50, said: "There's no way I'll make my flight. Tempers frayed and a fight broke out."
Abroad, a blizzard dumped up to 2ft of snow on East Coast US cities from Washington to Boston.
Four people were killed on icy roads and a woman died of exposure.
Dozens of flights to America from the UK were axed.
Snow storms battered much of northern Europe. In Warsaw, Poland, 29 people froze to death as the temperature dived to -20°C.
The Met Office forecasts a bright Christmas Day with wintry showers. William Hill have taken a record 22,000 bets on it snowing.
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