Express. Hundreds of drivers stranded overnight in freezing conditions

Motorists were stuck for hours in the freezing cold in long tailbacks as ice and snow made roads across much of the South East impassable.

There were reports of drivers stuck for more than 10 hours in queues of up to 30 miles long as police, snow ploughs and gritting lorries battled to treat the roads.

Emergency Red Cross teams were sent to help hundreds of motorists stranded in heavy snow on roads in Sussex for up to 10 hours.

As temperatures plunged to as low as -3C (27F), many motorists abandoned their vehicles for service stations.

"It was like driving through some sort of apocalypse because there are just cars everywhere and a few times we have had to swerve through cars that are just abandoned," one exhausted driver explained.

The worst areas affected were Sussex and Kent, where the A23 between Crawley and Kent was at a standstill after 4in (10cm) of snow fell. A party of 120 German students also stuck in Hastings town hall when families due to look after them could not reach them.

More than 100 people were stuck for more than four hours on the A2 at Lydden near Dover after a lorry jack-knifed last night, Kent Police said, leading to a build up of snow drifts up to a metre high.

Officers said the areas around Dover and Folkestone were worst hit in the county, with delays on the M20 as lorries queued trying to get into the Channel Tunnel.

Acting Chief Inspector Kay Maynard said: "We know how difficult it has been for many people who felt stranded in their vehicles. We have been trying to get to as many as possible to offer reassurance, as well as deal with the problems on the roads caused by collisions and broken down vehicles.