Extreme weather led to slips and slides on Britain's roads - particularly in the east of England.
Yesterday's snows caused a surge in weather-related car insurance claims, one provider has revealed.
According to esure, accident claims due to the heavy snowfall had increased by 100 percent by 11am, as Britons struggled in to work. Much of eastern England was hit hardest by the blizzard, with London under 20cm of snow by the afternoon.
It is thought that as many as one in five employees took the day off work or worked from home yesterday. The Federation of Small Businesses estimates the damage to the UK economy due to the snow yesterday at £1.2 billion - a figure which is thought likely to rise above £3 billion as the subzero temperatures prevail throughout the week.
Adrian Webb, head of communications at esure, said: "This is a major weather incident and despite the warnings some people have clearly had to try to drive to work. Unfortunately, many of these have hit trouble early on.
"The situation has been made much worse because garages and rescue services are also overwhelmed too and they are having to make their way to broken-down cars in exactly the same terrible conditions."
According to esure car insurance's own safety recommendations, everyone driving in the present adverse conditions must "completely clear all their car windows of snow before setting off", in order to improve visibility.
