UK weather: Storm Larisa traps drivers on English motorway for hours

'There are lorries broken down all over the road, across all lanes,' one motorist said

Traffic at a standstill on the M62 motorway in northern England, after Storm Larisa brought gales and blizzards to much of the UK. PA

Storm Larisa battered parts of the UK with gales and blizzards overnight on Thursday causing major travel disruption and trapping drivers in their cars.

People driving across the Pennines hills in northern England from the Manchester side were stuck for more than eight hours as heavy snow fell on the M62 motorway.

Some vehicles were still stuck after traffic was brought to a standstill on the M62 in the early hours of Friday. The RAC said "the situation was made worse" by drivers overtaking and getting stuck in fresh snow.

Emma Hamilton, 28, who works for the National Health Service, said she had been trapped for eight hours travelling from Manchester.

“There are lorries broken down all over the road across all lanes. Drivers are having to work out themselves how to go round them. Sort of bobbing and weaving round them,” she said.

“Some lorries have stopped to help other lorries too … I'm trying to get home from the Man United game last night. The traffic was fine on the way there yesterday as there wasn't as many cars on the road and I set off in good time to allow for the weather.”

National Highways North-West estimated that congestion overnight on the M62 eastbound tailed back about 12km. By mid-morning on Friday, the worst stretch was 27km between the towns of Rochdale and Huddersfield.

Fallen trees have blocked rail lines between Manchester and Sheffield, meaning no trains can run, with TransPennine Express and Northern services affected, Network Rail said.

The coldest temperature was minus 13.6C, recorded overnight in Altnaharra in Sutherland in the Highland region of northern Scotland.

Many schools in the storm’s path have been closed, power is out to about 2,000 homes in South Yorkshire, in northern England, and police in north Wales advised people to stay at home.

In Liverpool, in north-west England, Merseyrail services were cancelled and most flights from John Lennon Airport were delayed.

Most roads in the High Peak and Derbyshire Dales areas were “impassable”, police warned.

The Met Office said the greatest snow depth recorded was 27cm at Capel Curig in North Wales.

Met Office meteorologist Jonathan Vautrey said Storm Larisa, which was named by the French weather service, is bringing rain and snow to the UK.

“Storm Larisa, which Meteo France have named, is the same low-pressure system that is bringing us the bands of rain,” he said.

“But essentially, we’re on the northern side of the low-pressure system and it’s the southern side of that low-pressure system that is going to be bringing particularly strong winds to parts of France.

“So, that did originate out in the Atlantic and then it tracked its way eastward towards us, and the weather fronts that are swirling around that low-pressure system have then been pushing into the cold air that has been in places across the UK and allowing that rain to start falling as snow across several areas.”

Weather warnings cover much of the country.