Vehicles have been abandoned in northern England Stranded cars

Some 200 people had to be rescued after being stranded by snow on the A66 in Co Durham. And 3,500 homes, mostly in North Yorks, are still without power.

A bid to airlift to safety a cargo ship captain, who was seriously injured off the Isles of Scilly in a gale, has been abandoned because it is too dangerous.

A second helicopter rescue attempt is to be made at first light.

Blizzards affected much of Scotland and northern England on Friday, with snow recorded as deep as 15cm (5.9in) in some parts.

Freezing temperatures

Weather forecasters are predicting freezing temperatures overnight, dropping as low as -10C in the Scottish Highlands, and the Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for all of the UK apart from south-east England.

Emergency services took rescued motorists from the A66 to a hall and a pub in the village of Bowes, County Durham. A coach party of 40 pensioners were among those rescued.

The snow has now been cleared, enabling some drivers to continue on their journeys, although the A66 remains closed between Scotch Corner and Brough.

Other motorists are spending the night in bed and breakfast accommodation.

The road is to remain closed overnight.

Operation to float ferry UK weather in pictures

Meanwhile, RAF helicopters spent nearly an hour fighting gale-force winds over the Horncliff cargo vessel, in an attempt to rescue its skipper, after he suffered spinal and internal injuries in a storm off the Isles of Scilly.

But with the vessel moving around so much in the high seas, crews decided it was safer for the captain to remain where he was overnight.

Sqn Ldr Barry Neilson told BBC News 24: "It was deemed to be unsafe to either get the winchman on to the boat or to evacuate the casualty on Friday night.

"Clearly if this guy does have spinal injuries, the last thing we want to do is bash him in any way."

Airlift attempt

The vessel has switched destination from Cork to Falmouth, where it is expected to arrive between 1000 GMT and 1400 GMT on Saturday.

If a second airlift attempt is unsuccessful, the captain will be transferred to hospital on arrival at Falmouth.

One of the other 31 people on board is thought to have a broken hand and another has head injuries, but a Coastguard spokesman said neither had been seriously injured.

The ship lost about 90 containers containing bananas and other fruit but is not thought to be in danger of sinking.

It is thought those injured had been trying to fasten the containers in the storm.

The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings across the UK with the exception of south-east England.

Power has been restored to thousands of homes in East Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire.

CE Electrics, which controls the network in the region, says engineers are working to restore supply to those still without electricity but warns most will not be reconnected until morning.

The trawler hit rocks on the St Kilda islands, one of the remotest parts of Britain The coastguard

Earlier, rescuers airlifted 23 passengers and crew from the Riverdance freight ferry, which had been beached by a freak wave at Cleveleys, near Blackpool, Lancashire, on Thursday night.

The freight vessel, which had been taking trucks from Warrenpoint, County Down, to the port of Heysham, Lancashire, began listing at an angle of 60 degrees off the coast.

It is being closely monitored by the coastguard in case of any oil spills. The ferry is carrying 150 tonnes of fuel.

One of those involved in the recovery operation praised the rescue crews and the Riverdance's captain.

John Matthews, from Fleetwood RNLI, said: "The conditions were terrible. I've got to say that the two lifeboat crews and the helicopters did a wonderful job.

"Listening to it on the radio, everything was very calm and professional. I was quite amazed by how calm the master of the ship was."

Environment fears

In a separate incident, a helicopter winched 14 people to safety from a stricken trawler off St Kilda.

The Spanish crew of the British-registered Spinningdale trawler have now been flown to Stornoway. Four were taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia.

Their vessel ran aground on rocks on one of the islands of the St Kilda archipelago - 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides.

They were unable to evacuate to a life raft because of force nine winds.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch will launch an investigation into the incident amid fears the trawler could pose an environmental risk to the archipelago, which is a twice-listed World Heritage Site.