Britain's big chill heads for -12C

Temperatures plunged to nearly -12C (10.4F) across southern England today after the coldest night of the country's freezing spell.

Benson in Oxfordshire and Chesham in Bucks were both close to -12C and the UK's coldest areas, with other large parts of the south also recording -9C and -10C.

Snow flurries also moved south from Yorkshire and the Humber, leaving drivers facing another day of wintry chaos. Icy road warnings were in force for north-west England, Yorkshire and Humber and the East and West Midlands.

Yesterday tens of thousands of motorists were left stranded in a record day for car breakdowns amid chaotic scenes on the roads as temperatures in parts of the country dropped to as low as minus 11C (12.2F).

The AA and RAC said the situation was worse than it had been since 2004, with an estimated 50,000 call-outs over the previous two days.

Thanks to the cold snap, heating bill payouts to pensioners and the vulnerable have now topped £100 million as the Government stepped in to help.

The £25-a-week payout is triggered when an area's average temperature falls to fall to 0C or below for seven consecutive days.

Daytime temperatures today were expected to creep up a couple of degrees to a maximum of 5C, with the northern half of Britain faring better than the rest.

But the UK will have to wait until Saturday or Sunday before more temperatures warm up to an average above freezing.

Nikki Berry, a forecaster for MeteoGroup UK, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "There is quite a bit more cloud around which will help raise temperatures.

"Generally northern half of the UK is looking much warmer, 1C to 3C minimum.

"In the south we will still be looking at -1C to -4C overnight, which is not as cold as it has been."

In perilous conditions on the roads yesterday, there were a string of road accidents.

Among the victims of perilous driving conditions was a woman cyclist who sustained serious injuries when she was run over by a Land Rover which skidded on ice in Clevedon, Somerset.

In Dorset, a man escaped injury after his BMW 325 convertible spun off the road and hit a telegraph pole near Bournemouth International Airport after 6am.

In Devon and Cornwall, police warned drivers to delay journeys after seven crashes this morning including two multi-car collisions.

It also emerged today that Moira Koune, the teaching assistant killed by a train after her car skidded on an icy level crossing, planned to marry this year.

The greatest surge of breakdowns were recorded in the Bristol, Bournemouth, London and Birmingham areas.

In central London, shivering tourists witnessed the unusual sight of the fountains in Trafalgar Square frozen.

Pensioners were advised to take extra precautions to make sure they stayed warm during the cold weather.

The freeze also sparked calls from Macmillan Cancer Support on the Government to extend winter fuel payments to cancer patients.

Welsh Water apologised to customers in the Rhondda Fach area of south Wales who they said may experience problems with their water supply as a result of the cold snap.