More snowfall causes disruption in Oxfordshire

Bliss Mill in Chipping Norton - photo taken by Ron Sidders on Wednesday BBC Oxford - school updates

Further heavy snowfall across Oxfordshire caused schools to close and disrupted travellers on Wednesday.

Nearly 100 schools closed or partially shut due to the freezing conditions.

Grit workers slept in council offices overnight on Tuesday to make sure they could maintain their operations and farmers also helped clear roads.

Parents have been advised to listen to local radio and to check council websites for the latest schools information.

Several incidents on county roads also led to major disruption for motorists throughout the day.

More than 30 farmers helped with snow ploughing on village routes.

Snow ploughing

Oxfordshire County Council said its gritters covered more than 800 miles (1,300km) of road overnight on Tuesday.

The county council said: "The supplier of salt to councils up and down the country is not meeting all of its contractual commitments to local authorities and is prioritising deliveries to those it considers most in need - it has not considered Oxfordshire to be a priority as yet."

Oxfordshire County Council gritted 800 miles of road overnight on Tuesday

John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and Horton General Hospital in Banbury reported that patients in their 50s had suffered the most number of falls.

"Attendances in the emergency departments did not go up in the way most people might expect," she said.

"There were of course more ice-related injuries like fractures, but because people were not playing sport and many people restricted their movements, the total numbers were about the same as normal - about 1,700 to 2,000 per week.

"These injuries are mostly bumps, scrapes and fractures."

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