LONDON– Questions were asked yesterday about whether Britain should be better prepared to cope with harsh winter weather after forecasters warned of more snow storms.
Hundreds of schools remained closed after the storms, which brought parts of the south of England to a standstill, moved north.
Birmingham City Council closed all its schools yesterday, leaving parents fuming.
School closures added to problems for working parents, many of whom also faced difficult journeys to work due to icy roads and disrupted public transport.
An estimated one in five workers took Monday off because of weather-related transport or childcare problems.
Stephen Alambritis, from the Federation of Small Businesses, said the economy could lose as much £3.5 billion this week as a result of the disruption and added: “One of the world’s biggest economies should not be grinding to a halt.” London, which came to a virtual standstill on Monday as buses were cancelled and train and tube services were disrupted, began to recover yesterday.
After a night when the lowest recorded temperature was slightly more than 10 degrees in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, the south gradually began to thaw, and London’s mayor Boris Johnson congratulated the “heroic efforts” that got the city’s buses running again.
But further disruption is likely with another wave of snow expected to sweep from south to north through tonight and Thursday.
The Met Office has warned of icy roads today in southwest England, South Wales and the southern part of Scotland.
Yesterday, schools secretary Ed Balls said any inconvenience to parents as a result of school closures was “really regrettable”.
“I have a huge amount of understanding for those parents for whom life has been difficult, but in the end these decisions are made by the heads of our local authorities. They have to make the right decision often in difficult circumstances, and I think they have been doing it right,” he told BBC Radio 4’s The World at One.
Two climbers who fell to their deaths on a treacherous part of Mount Snowdon, and whose bodies were discovered on Monday morning, were yesterday identified as brothers James and Christopher McCallion.
They had been reported missing by family members on Sunday after failing to return home to Bristol. – (PA)