Fresh snowstorms bring more chaos to freezing Scotland

In Edinburgh the city centre was brought to a standstill this morning as blizzard conditions affected visibility leading to gridlock.

A Lothian and Borders spokesman said: "It is chaos at the moment. We would urge people to stay off the roads until it clears."

Local authority schools across West Lothian were also closed due to the weather.

Grampian Police asked drivers to stay off roads across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire unless the journey was absolutely necessary.

In Dumfries and Galloway traffic was slow on the M74 with black ice bring traffic to a standstill late last night.

A force spokesman said: "We have had reports of black ice on the motorway and would urge drivers to drive to take extra care. Just because there is no snow on the road itself it does not mean that there isn`t ice."

The picture was the same throughout much of the country.

Northern Constabulary advised drivers in the Aviemore area to avoid using the road as conditions were "treacherous" on the A9 between the Slochd and Drumossie.

A spokesman for Tayside Police said: "We are expecting a lot of black ice across the area today and drivers should exercise extreme caution."

Airports in Scotland continued to urge passengers to check with their airlines before travelling to airports.

Brendan Jones, a forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather arm of the Press Association, said:

"It will be a very cold start across Scotland and the UK. There will still be frequent showers of snow, rain, hail and sleet across the north eastern areas of Scotland.

"The temperatures away from the coast will still be at freezing or a little below."

Last night commuters faced severe disruption as heavy snow fell.

Glasgow Central station's main concourse was closed at around 4.30pm yesterday after points failures caused delays to trains, affecting thousands of people.

Main roads in the city were clear this morning, however compacted ice and snow on side roads caused problems for people trying to get to work.