Heavy snow fall today brought large parts of Britain to a standstill today. Said to be the coldest December, several flights were grounded and roads and rail networks were blocked affecting the the busiest weekend for travel and shopping before Christmas. Heathrow Airport cancelled all flights between 10 am and 5 pm today, with further problems at Gatwick and in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The announcement came after overnight blizzards and plummeting temperatures buckled a huge chunk of the nation's road and rail links. Hundreds of drivers were trapped on motorways overnight. The North West was hit with deluges of up to 10 inches of snow while parts of the south were also blanketed overnight, with blizzards expected in parts of the South East and Midlands. London is under a thick blanket of snow. Police said hundreds of motorists were stranded on the motorway in Greater Manchester. Parts of the south were also blanketed by snow overnight, with the blizzards predicted to dump as much as a foot of snow on parts of the South East and the Midlands. Temperatures dropped as low as minus 13 C in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, overnight with Gatwick reading minus 11C.