Snow blanket on London

Central London is blanketed in snow this lunchtime as freezing winds from Europe sweep across Britain, turning the capital into a winter wonderland.

Snow fell on the outskirts of the city and in the home counties yesterday, but central London did not see a single flake settle.

Today, however, the capital's famous landmarks are covered in a thick blanket of fresh snow. From Big Ben to Canary wharf, snow is piling up on the pavements, and dusting buildings in white.

The suburbs woke to the snowfall and by late morning central London was covered. Forecasters are predicting up to 5cm by the end of the day.

Temperatures overnight plunged to - 1.8C in central London, while the lowest recorded in Surrey and Essex were - 4.5C and - 4.6C respectively.

And with maximum temperatures for today forecast at 1 degree, Londoners are advised to wrap up warm.

Needless to say, the snow brought the inevitable chaos on roads and rail - with commuter services into the city severely disrupted.

Motoring organisations issued severe weather warnings to drivers battling with poor visibility and ice, train services were hit and three Essex schools closed because of travel fears.

Driving snow forced the closure of the huge Bluewater Shopping Centre near Dartford in Kent for the first time since it opened in March 1999.

Power failures in Kent also forced the closure of the infant department of Sherwood Park Primary School in Tunbridge Wells and the Faversham library in Swale.

Traffic on the A13 crawled at roadworks at the Movers Lane junction in Dagenham and a 50mph speed limit was in force on the M2 between junctions five and seven. While some roads were closed, others had speed restrictions.

Traffic on the A2 was reduced to a 10mph crawl and the M20 and A20 were also hit by driving snow.