Snow leads to some road and school closures in North-West England

  • By Lauren Hirst
  • BBC News
16 January 2024, 08:26 GMT

Updated 3 hours ago

Road closed sign covered in snow

Roads and schools have been closed in parts of North-West England as an arctic blast brought a covering of overnight snow to the region.

Lancashire Police said Grane Road and Elton Road in Belthorn were closed after a crash.

At least 20 schools on Merseyside have also closed for the day due to the adverse weather conditions.

In Liverpool, snow was continuing to fall during the morning rush hour, making the commute to work a little frostier than usual.

Merseyrail activated its cold weather plans on Monday evening ahead of an expected drop in temperatures overnight and the first services of the day on each line ran without passengers to check conditions before services commenced as normal.

Merseyside Police said they dealt with a number of incidents on the roads on Tuesday morning due to snow.

Liverpool City Council said gritters had been out overnight across the major roads, but traffic remained slow, it said a review of further gritting across the city will take place.

Bin collections were also affected with all residential waste collections stopped due to traffic issues around the snow and ice.

In Lancashire, Rossendale Police said conditions were "very dangerous" due to the weather conditions and the decision had been made to "close Grane Road and Elton Road in its entirety".

A representative said it was unknown "how long the road will be closed for", but updates would be given via social media.

Darwen Council said its entire gritting team was out from 04:00 making sure all major routes have been covered and Lancashire County Council said it has had gritters and snow ploughs out trying to keep routes clear of snow particularly in the east, central and south of the county.It said gritting teams had treated 1,500 miles of roads and were on standby to deal with the conditions over the next few days.

Lancashire Police also warned about conditions following a number of road traffic collisions.

Man walking by Greenbank Park

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

People sledging in Camp Hill, LiverpoolPeople walk along a snow-covered Penny Lane

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

People playing in snow in Liverpool

Image source, Alamy

Snow falls on the Beatles Statue at Pier Head, Liverpool

Image source, PA Media

Snow falls at Hunt Cross station, Liverpool

Image source, PA Media

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