The 'Beast from the East' closes ski resort in Kent

The "Beast from the East" has grounded flights, closed schools and seen motorists abandon their vehicles.

But you could assume one business thriving due to the heavy snowfall, would be a ski resort, but you'd be wrong.

The Chatham Ski Centre in Kent has been closed for a third day.

Resort manager Andy Rushton said: "We have the longest toboggan run in the country it's going to take a couple of days to move 750 metres of snow."

The venue which also boasts a dry sky slope, tubing run and offers snowboard lessons usually has "a couple of thousand" visitors a week.

The cold spell, nicknamed "the Beast from the East", is carrying freezing winds across from the continent, with temperatures as low as -30C (-22F).

Parts of the UK have been placed on red weather alerts, meaning there is a risk to life.

"It's really frustrating because we have had a really busy few weeks due to the [Winter] Olympics.

"The time of year is also when we do a lot of business, it's when a lot of people come to us before they go abroad on their skiing holidays," Andy added.

"We would've had a really busy week, we've got load of schools that would've been in but of course they're closed.

"I've been playing taxi, running around the Medway towns picking up a few of my staff who've come in to give me a hand taking calls letting people know where we are at," he told us.

Andy who's worked at the ski resort for 17 years says that it's not the first time bad weather has forced the venue to close, but safety is his first priority.

It's located down a country road which hasn't been gritted meaning emergency access is a problem.

"It's not really the snow affecting the slope as people have been suggesting.

"It's [the ski centre] is down quite a narrow country road and it's only the past couple of days that 4X4 cars have been able to get to us," he said.

"We've had comments from Finland and all over the world," he said speaking of the Facebook post letting customers know the centre is closed.

"They had a bit of a chuckle at the irony I guess but there is a legitimate safety reason we've had to shut out doors," he said

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