kent county council have declared what they are calling a snow emergency. drastic but it is because potentially there will be drastic weather conditions overnight. they have got 57 gritters. the big concern is what will happen at around three or four o'clock tomorrow morning. we are told they could be 10—15 centimetres of snow with the snow hits as predicted. if that happens that will cause a lots of problems on the roads, knock on effects with the transport network. it is notjust the snow. it is the fact that it is so—called. standing here this evening it feels freezing. the fact is that temperatures overnight could go as low as “4, and in the wind chill factor, it will feel much colder. in the coming days if we do get the predicted amount of snow, and the wind, we could see blizzard conditions. in kent we have had snow showers through the day but that has not been particularly heavy, but all eyes now are on what could happen overnight. here they say they are prepared, the gritters will be out as long as necessary, but if the snow comes down heavily that i

let's speak now to our correspondence to is that a gritting station ran by kent county council.? this is one of the six gritting depots. at the beginning of the season, this shed here was absolutely full of salt. but, there is only about 1000 tonnes left of this sort. gritters have been arriving here all afternoon, loading up and heading out to kent's a and b roads. temperatures are set to plummet. they are estimated to distribute tonnes of this salt tonight. that is because, today, when we woke up, it was really treacherous across the south—east. the police were called out to many accidents on the 20. there was overturned van. really treacherous conditions, and we are effecting wintry showers overnight, which could cause, we have been told black eyes. at —— black ice. this sort does not get rid of the black ice. this is a warning for drivers to leave extra time for theirjourneys tomorrow. and extra space for breaking. we are facing one of the cold est breaking. we are facing one of the coldest weeks breaking. we are facing one of the cold est weeks of breaking. we are facing on

kent county council declared what they called a snow emergency yesterday. a249 which is to the north of the m20 just to the south of london. there are big hills in that area and we had jackknifed lorries in accident and as soon as cars crash or lorries get stuck, the gritters cannot come through and it needs the action of traffic to make the salt and the great work. —— and the grit. like "giving up a three—course mealfor the promise of a packet of crisps" — that‘s the view of the former most senior civil servant at the department for international trade on proposals for britain to leave the eu customs union. sir martin donnelly, who left his post last year, said 60% of uk trade was either with the eu or the countries the eu has agreements with. if we look at where we are now with fair and equal access to the very large, rich eu market which is nearly half of our service and goods exports, plus preferential access to other markets which gets us up to about three fifths of our trade, if you are going to give that up for the promise of some bilateral deals wit

in kent, where the county council had declared a snow emergency, gritters worked flat out to cover asroads 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 on one of the steep roads, negotiating was like an uphill slalom. and as the snow came down again, thi

kent county council has declared a snow emergency.ways there is disruption, southern and south—eastern have told people to check their trains because there are cancellations. also, gatwick appears to be operating normally although british airways has grounded some short—haulflights british airways has grounded some short—haul flights at heathrow. thank you. let's go to ben ando coclhester railway station where the first train left not so long ago. what is the disruption there this morning? they are running fewer than 50% of the services they would normally run. this is one of those towns where a lot of people commute into london to go to work. around six trains every hour during the morning rush. massively curtailed this morning, the first one not running until 6:15am and that, you wouldn't be surprised to hear, full of people hoping to get to work. the difficulty for the rail operators, either they don't take enough action and there are problems, or they take too much and when the snow is perhaps as heavy as expected, people say, why

in kent, where the county council had declared a snow emergency, gritters worked flat out to cover asoads 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 thursday evening as well, so it will be the same again. norfolk also sought school closures, and that th

in kent where the county council had declared a snow emergency, grifters worked flat out to cover asvideo 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 whirlwind tour of the western balkan countries the republic of macedonia, albania, serbia, montenegro, bosn

the gritters in this county of kent have been operating under what the county council have cold a store plan, which means they get every available vehicle out and the other farmers who have snow ploughs to look after the country roads. that has been in place but if the traffic does not want the car is not grinding the salt and melting the snow. that compounds the problem is and physically the gritters cannot get through. on the rails, southeastern trains are running a normal timetable but there have been some delays and cancellations and they have combined smaller trees into larger trains. there has been disruptions on country roads that are perhaps less well treated and they have had to withdraw the service on those roads. dozens of schools have also been closed. pupils have difficulties getting to work. advice to parents is to keep an eye on the relevant websites. overall, a bit of a mixed picture across the region outside the old block hardly any snow at all but within that there is enough to cause problems and the concern is that with temperatures as low as they are, what has come d

the meeting starts at 5:00 at the wilmington city council committee room. >>> and kent county prison are making a push to get a bump in funding. the state department of corrections is asking lawmakers for an additional $20 million in funding for the next fiscal year. that money would be earmarked to help boost pay and to increase staffing. the request comes a little more than a year after a riot at the correctional center in smyrna left one officer dead. >>> the university city science center just got a major financial boost this afternoon. at&t contributed $20,000 to the center's project inquiry program. it was all part of the project inquiry showcase where students competed in a logo contest. the project introduces high school students to s.t.e.m. programs which include science, technology, engineering and mathematics. >>> it is the end of an era for several local toys "r" us stores. >> they're shutting up shop and everything must go. but that could be a good deal for shoppers looking for the perfect present. we'll explain, next at 4:00. >>> waves of people from the jersey shore ch

kent has risen to more than 339. we are just sharing from someone at the county council. u are at the moment, it is coming your way. what advice you to motorists? be prepared. we have had some serious weather coming through and we are expecting it around midday tomorrow onwards. we are ready as a team down here and hopefully motorists are getting prepared for some travel chaos, which is well on its way. what advice do you give to people, what do they need to check on their cars? easiest way to describe it as a thing called flower. which is —— easy way to describe it as a thing called flour. make sure that your normal levels are topped up. there is no point in filling the car with water as apple freeze inside of the bottle. we would advise around three mill of rubber on those tyres. it may be worth popping down to the garage. you may be in their best for by four on earth, but you're only able to go as fast as the car in of you. you can have the best tyres and the best vehicle in the world but you if you are stuck behind another motorist who has not got a capability than the