ben ando is in colchester in essex. how much disruption has there been there?a fair amount. greater anglia who run trains from this station into london normally packed with rush—hour commuters were running barely half the number of services. the snow levels weren't as high as anticipated but the temperatures were very cold. some commuters were asking if the beast from the east was the least from the east. the difficulty for the rail network is they need to plan for the worse. snowy conditions can cause signals and points to fail and all sorts of difficulties and they can't run as many trains and those that do run as many trains and those that do run have to run more slowly. they are looking to reinstate some services, particularly to rural lines. they are aware that tonight the forecast is for more snow and there could be more disruption to come over the next few days. staff here have been helping out. there have been engineering workers, people who normally work in administration coming down to help passengers. although passengers were frustrated most apprecia

in essex, a car passenger filmed 17 damaged or abandoned vehicles alongside the a120 close to colchesterent, where the county council had declared a snow emergency, gritters worked flat out to cover as many roads as possible. but traffic overnight meant salt couldn't do its work. by the time the morning commute began, accidents and ice had closed a series of routes. drivers posted video images of the m20, where all traffic was brought to north of maidstone. up to ten centimetres of snow fell across kent, surrey and east sussex, where farmers helped to keep minor roads open. more than 300 schools were closed. across the eastern counties, traffic called and travellers waited for news on cancelled rail services. 0perators had run empty trains through the night to keep the tracks open, but for a while the snow defeated them. temperatures are falling again. travelling will remain unpredictable and hazardous in the coming days. in the part of england were the most difficult weather was forecast... several schools were closed. a van stopped here, i got to go around him... 20 miles further south

. >> travis on the democrat finding colchester, vermont. >> hi, good morning. first of all, mr. moniz, i want to thank you and commend you for your work in negotiating and securing the iran nuclear deal. secondly, my question has to do with your former role as deputy secretary. i was wondering if you could speak to the risk to the electrical grid. i'm sure you are familiar if you could talk a little bit about that and do you feel that hardening our electrical grid to solar events should be a priority? >> guest: let me say more broadly i think hardening the grid if you like i would say,ha making it more resilient against a number of threats, you mentioned solar flares in extreme circumstances. those certainly are an issue. i would like to say that frankly, i would say cyberthreat are probably a greater present danger. but in general, what we need to do is we need to get a much more resilient system. we need to continue the deployment that was started nearly 10 yearse ar ago now in s of much more able sensors, for example, that can detect disturbances, lead to waysur of isolating

ben is at colchester. the update is what? the update is very encouraging.re here first thing this morning, large numbers of trains were cancelled. ba rely half numbers of trains were cancelled. barely half the normal commuter trains were running into the capital from here. many of the passengers stayed away having heeded the warnings. while there have been some slow flurries, large dumps of snow that were anticipated haven't happened and things have got better. network rail have told the train operating companies they can run more trains. by the end of the day, greater anglia which runs the trains here says of the 1350 trains it would normally run, it expects to run 1000. that is not bad going. they are hoping to run a normal service tomorrow. that is the plan right now but there could be more snow overnight and that could change. at the moment, they are hoping to run a normal service on the basis of things today haven't been as bad as they have worried. encouraging news. quite rightly, conditions could change in the next couple of days. tom is at london br

i'm at the east anglian railway museum near colchester.it's kind of the perfect place for the programme really, because our second film is about british rail. but first, there's something nasty on our roads which can cause serious problems. vehicles are being damaged, and in some cases people are being seriously hurt. the cause of all this misery? the humble pothole. here's martin friend. potholes are the bugbear of every road user. it seems there are more now than ever. they are the cause of a big spike in breakdowns this time of year. it seems everyone who uses them has a story to tell. but how bad is it? i've come to northampton, i'll meet someone who has made it his mission to rid our roads of potholes. you can't make it out now, but at this very spot five years ago there was a massive pothole in the road. tell me what happened here. it was a dangerous pothole on that bend. people were trying to avoid it, because obviously they did not want to damage their vehicles, but we have very good vehicles coming along here. i reported it to the

these images are from the a120 in colchester, littered with damaged and abandoned vehicles.olnshire, three people died in a collision on the a15 near baston. elsewhere, school children escaped unhurt when their bus veered off the road. across the worst affected southern counties, traffic crawled and journeys lengthened. as is always the case, the greater hazards lie away from main roads, where there is less traffic and the snow has had time to settle and freeze. that has brought a series of accidents which began before dawn, it has disrupted bus services and caused the closure of dozens services and caused the closure of d oze ns of services and caused the closure of dozens of schools. the village of leeds near maidstone was complete the cut off for a time as ice and compacted snow stranded cars and lorries. landlord jason tharp helped to clear the road. you have seen the forecast, are you worried about the rest of the week? yes, it will be the same tomorrow, and thursday evening as well. it will be the same again. norfolk also saw school closures. at mulbarton primary schoo

in essex, a car passenger filmed 17 damaged or abandoned vehicles alongside the a120 close to colchesternt, where the county council had declared a snow emergency, gritters worked flat out to cover as many roads as possible. but like traffic overnight meant salt couldn't do its work. by the time the morning commute began, accidents and ice had closed a series of routes. tribe is posted video images of m20, where all traffic was brought to north of maidstone. —— drivers. up to ten centimetres of snow fell across kent, sorry and east sussex, where farmers helped to keep minor roads open. more than 300 schools were closed. this village was completely cut off for a time as ice and compacted snow stranded cars and lorries. some of the locals here have been helping people move cars off the main roads, it has been very icy, and the sun has not had time to hit it, so, yeah, it has been an interesting day. landlord jason was among those who helped reopen the road. you have seen the forecast, are you worried about the rest of the week? it is going to be the same again tomorrow, i do believe, and t

i'm at the east anglian railway museum near colchester.il. but first, there's something nasty on our roads which can cause serious problems. vehicles are being damaged, and in some cases people are being seriously hurt. the cause of all this misery? the humble pothole.

further south, in colchester, and all along this line services will start winding down much earlier tonighther. scores of schools could be closed over the next few days if the forecast ring true. for parents here in lincoln that's good and bad news. i've been waiting for snow for three years, i'm desperate for it to snow! i have to work tomorrow, and my wife has to go to work, so if one of us would have to call in sick we lose money, so hopefully the school will be open. nearby at raf scampton the red arrows were getting in as much practice as possible before snow grounds them. butjust to show how patchy it is, this was the scene less than 30 miles away in boston. your perception of this winter blast will depend on your postcode. that point illustrated here in lincolnshire, where we are getting flurries, but there is quite a layer of snow in other parts of the country. two amber warnings are in place for the heaviest part of the snow. a large part of northern england and down through suffolk and essex into kent. it is notjust the snow that will cause problems, it is the cold. it will feel a

joining us now from colchester train station isjuliette maxam from greater anglia trains.e hazardous conditions in places? most definitely. snow has been falling overnight and we have been falling overnight and we have been out treating the roads, so the roads are pretty clear but mainly minor roads will have more snow at the moment. can you give us an update on the situation on the trains and what is running? well, we are working with network rail and they are keeping the key routes open so they are keeping the key routes open so the commuter routes into london liverpool street. but we are operating a reduced service and there are fewer trains than normal. the service is only running from 6am up the service is only running from 6am up untiliopm and up until 10pm and norfolk and suffolk are suspended at the moment. we are working really hard to keep trains running, we have people de—icing the doors and special things fitted to stop ice getting in the horn. if the horns aren't working they cannot go as fast stomach causes further delays. we apologise for the inconvenience b

our correspondent, ben ando, is at colchester railway station where many services are being disrupted is falling thick and fast, ben, how have commuters and? the snow is falling thick and fast, ben, how have commuters and7m the snow is falling thick and fast, ben, how have commuters and? it has been tough for them. many will have been tough for them. many will have been quite appreciative that they knew in advance that there was going to be disruption because as it was, fewer people arrived at the station than normal and that meant that the just services that were available we re just services that were available were not horribly overcrowded in a way that i think some people will have feared. we have had a mixed bag of whether this morning. when i arrived there was actually no small. during the morning it has been intermittent snow showers. it has been snowing quite heavily over the last half an hour or so but that seems to be clearing but it is an ongoing problem and one of the problems is not so much the snow it is the freezing temperatures, it is really cold here and that can caus

in essex, a car passenger filmed 17 damaged or abandoned vehicles alongside the a120 close to colchestery the time the morning commute began, accidents and ice had closed a series of routes. drivers posted video images of the m20 where traffic was brought to a halt north of maidstone and the weald. up to ten centimetres of snow fell across kent, surrey and east sussex where farmers helped to keep minor roads open. more than 300 schools were closed. the village of leeds was com pletely closed. the village of leeds was completely is cut off a time as ice and compacted snow was stranded cars and compacted snow was stranded cars and lorries. across the eastern counties, traffic crawled and travellers waited for news on cancelled rail services. operators have run empty trains through the night to keep the tracks open but for a while, this snow defeated them. temperatures falling again. travelling will remain unpredictable and hazardous in the coming days. this week the european commission presidentjean—claude junker has been visiting the new prospective members of the eu. he‘s been on a whirl

let's go to ethics, ben ando in colchester.situation here is that commuters were facing frustration, normally there would be dozens of trains running from here to london, colchester is a big commuter town with lots of people heading into london to work. many of those trains had to be cancelled because network rail told the passenger train companies like greater anglia, tfl oi’ companies like greater anglia, tfl or great northern that they would have to be running slower trains, there would be speed restrictions and may be problems with points freezing up, all of these things mean the service has to be reduced. the message seems to have got through. there have been plenty of people coming to catch trains but certainly not as many as normal and so certainly not as many as normal and so by planning ahead and letting people know there would be problems, it seems that perhaps some of the difficult scenes with people barging to get onto trains have been avoided. going forward, the company says they hope to reinstate trains is possibl

an elephant in a fountain in colchester. it froze when temperatures fell below zero. colchester. when it comes to explaining how the industry will be affected by brexit. as part of a day of special coverage across the bbc, our scotland correspondent lorna gordon has been to shetland — home to one of the eu's richest fishing grounds. in the low winter sun off shetland, the crew of the guardian angel are heading home. the waters here can be unforgiving, but this has been a good few days at sea. the skipper of this trawler voted to leave the eu. he believes decisions on who can fish here should be made much closer to home. out on the deep edge, the shetland area, you have got the foreign vessels coming up and down and there are plundering the stocks all the time. it's not a good feeling when you see that there, taking the stocks from out in front of you. how does it make you feel? ijust feel bad. it is our fish, our waters. how confident are you that the politicians are going to deliver what you want? at the moment i'm fairly confident to be honest with you. they are saying all the

in a moment we will speak to our correspondent in colchester. first, to north yorkshire.pening? well, simon, this weather really changes by the minute. not long ago we were standing here talking in a blizzard, but now look at it it is absolutely beautiful. we have had a fair bit of snow here on the north yorkshire moors, as you can see just walking in it, the north yorkshire moors, as you can seejust walking in it, it the north yorkshire moors, as you can see just walking in it, it shows you that it is several centimetres deep. the disruption has been kept toa minimum deep. the disruption has been kept to a minimum because the snow ploughs and gritting teams have spent the last few hours, certainly since about five o'clock this morning, gritting the main a170. it is not as busy as it normally is, thatis is not as busy as it normally is, that is the main route across the north york moors. up to whitby on the north yorkshire coast. elsewhere, there has been significant disruption, we have had several schools closed today as a result of the snow. police across the region hav

further south, in colchester, and all along this line services will start winding down much earlier tonightvere weather. scores of schools could be closed over the next few days if the forecast ring true. for parents here in lincoln that's good and bad news. i've been waiting for snow for three years, i'm desperate for it to snow! i have to work tomorrow, and my wife has to go to work, so if one of us would have to call in sick we lose money, so hopefully the school will be open. nearby at raf scampton the red arrows were getting in as much practice as possible before snow grounds them. butjust to show how patchy it is, this was the scene less than 30 miles away in boston. your perception of this winter blast will depend on your postcode. our correspondent simonjones has been at a gritting depot near maidstone in kent. he says the weather could be worst in the southeast in the early hours of tomorrow morning. this is one of 57 gritters that is taking to the roads to ensure they remain safe. if the depot looks pretty quiet, that is because all the other gritters are already out. they will be