The Christmas travel plans of thousands of Britons are in disarray¹ after snow left Heathrow Airport all but shut.

英国希斯罗机场因大雪被迫关闭，数千英国人的圣诞出游计划被打乱。

Many people were forced to sleep at Heathrow overnight
Thousands remained in terminals for hours as few flights departed on Sunday. Knock-on delays hit most UK airports, including Gatwick.

The Met Office warns of more heavy snow in Yorkshire, north-east England and eastern Scotland, advising essential travel only in the Edinburgh area.

Icy roads affect much of the rest of the UK. There is some rail disruption.

An extreme weather warning is in place for Edinburgh, Lothian and Borders, with some 15 to 20cm (6-8in) of snow expected between 1100 and 1800 GMT.

Up to 10cm (4in) are expected in other snow-affected areas, with up to 20cm on high ground.

Edinburgh airport was closed until 1430 GMT and then opened for departures only on Sunday.

Temperatures struggled to get above -5C (23F) overnight and BBC forecaster Matt Taylor said there were lows of -19C (-2F) in parts of Worcestershire and Shropshire. They are likely to stay below freezing throughout the day.

The Met Office also issued warnings of heavy snow in parts of Sussex, East Sussex and Kent on Sunday.

Trains between London and Peterborough were suspended late on Sunday due to problems with overhead wire problems, train company East Coast said.

No trains are running between Oxford² and Hereford, while some Chiltern Railways, South West Trains and First Capital Connect services have been weather-affected.

With France also suffering severe weather, Eurostar said it had cancelled some trains and switched to a contingency³（偶然性，意外事故） timetable, with last-minute cancellations possible. Speed restrictions⁴ were adding an additional 90 minutes to journeys.

Drivers are facing queues of up to eight hours on the A34 in Oxfordshire, where more than 80 cars were abandoned on Saturday night and several jack-knifed lorries were blocking the route. The nearby Cherwell Valley services on the M40 has run out of fuel.

The M25 has re-opened after being closed in both directions between junctions⁵ five and six, causing long delays following a liquid petroleum⁶ gas tanker⁷ overturning at 0900 GMT.

But airports were worst hit, on a weekend when travel association Abta said hundreds of thousands of Britons were due to fly.

The BBC has received hundreds of e-mails from stranded⁸ passengers, with many saying they have no idea where they will be spending Christmas.

BA said "several thousand" of its stranded（搁浅的） passengers were being put up in hotels but when asked if the company was confident of getting everyone to their festive⁹ destinations, a spokeswoman said: "We are in the hands of the weather."

People are advised against travelling to Heathrow Airport, which said "a few thousand" spent the night in the terminals. Just four short-haul and three long-haul flights left on Sunday morning.

By late on Sunday night, BAA said three flights had landed at Heathrow, with more maybe due later.

The airport earlier said it hoped to be operational on Monday, but warned of more cancellations and delays "in the days that follow" as airlines move diverted aircraft and crew back to their normal positions.