The weather conditions are atrocious in some places.

Grampian Police spokesman

More than �1m had been staked on a white Christmas.

But a few punters did collect.

William Hill said an Edinburgh man scooped almost �4,000 after snow fell in Cardiff and Manchester.

But the punter, whose stake was �1,800, would have doubled his money had London and Glasgow also had a white Christmas.

Another gambler in Cardiff was �3,000 better off after staking �500 at 5/1 for snow in the Welsh capital.

The north east of Scotland suffered heavy snow falls in early hours of Boxing Day.

A spokesman for Grampian Police said several roads were closed, including the A939 between Cock Bridge and Tomintoul and from Ballater to Corgarff, as well as the B976 between Crathie and Gairnshiel.

'Atrocious conditions'

Aberdeen was badly affected by snow and ice, as was the nearby Deeside area.

A Grampian Police spokesman said: "The weather conditions are atrocious in some places.

"We have had snow in and around Aberdeen which has fallen on top of ice, making conditions worse.

"All roads in the Grampian region are affected by snow and ice, however the Moray and Buchan areas had lighter showers."

Sport affected

Several sporting fixtures fell victim to the weather on Boxing Day.

Aberdeen's match with Dundee in the SPL was called off because of a frozen pitch and that was the same reason for calling off Wimbledon's match with Watford in the English Division One.

Also off was the Division Three match between Carlisle and Darlington.

Horse racing was called off at Hereford, Huntingdon, Sedgefield, Towcester, Wetherby and Ayr because of the frozen turf.

In rugby union, the match between Glasgow and Edinburgh was also called off.

Snow also fell in the Scottish Highlands, Stirling and Lerwick.

Newcastle and Durham in north east England and Wrexham in North Wales also had some light snowfall on Christmas Day.

For a white Christmas to be official, a flake of snow must be observed to fall at the four specific sites between midnight on 24 December and midnight on 25 December, even if it is mixed with rain and is not necessarily snow lying on the ground.

Short price

Heavy snow showers which had already swept across parts of eastern England and Scotland prompted bookmakers to slash the odds on a white Christmas to the shortest price for 20 years.

If snow had fallen bookmakers would have to have paid out for the third time in six years following the white Christmases of 1996 and 1999.

An official white Christmas was confirmed in Northern Ireland.

The Meteorological Office said a snow flurry fell on its offices at Aldergrove, Co Antrim, soon after dawn.