SEVERAL roads across Cumbria have either closed or suffered significant delays after accidents and severe weather.

Highways England issued a warned earlier this week of the influx of severe weather, including snow and hail, that has affected several roads.

Of the roads that are the worst affected by the snow is the A66 between Scotch Corner and Penrith, which closed.

A car crashed into a ditch while trying to rejoin that road yesterday, according to Eden police, who subsequently urged those facing disruption because of the A66 closure to use the M6 to go south and to not use sat nav routes that would lead to potential danger during that time.

The weather comes as no surprise after a yellow weather warning was issued for the North West of England on January 5, where it was expected for sleet, hail and snow showers to fall that had the potential lead to some disruption to travel during Thursday night (January 7) and Friday morning (January 8).

Likewise, Highways England issued an amber weather warning on Wednesday January 5 for the same date across these areas between 10:00am on January 6 and 6:00pm on January 7.

Highways said National Highways routes above 200m were most likely to be affected.

A spokesperson said at the time: "This will include routes such as M62 over the Pennines, M6 at Shap, A628 Woodhead Pass and A66 trans-Pennine route.

"Combined with the risk of snow, winds will increase through the late morning seeing gusts of 45-50mph from a southerly direction on any particularly exposed routes, causing drifting snow and temporary blizzard conditions which will make for difficult driving."

National Highways Head of Road Safety, Jeremy Phillips, said on Wednesday:  “If you need to travel in the morning, make sure you keep your distance and reduce your speed because, even in conditions that seem normal and the snow is not settling, it can be slippery if ice patches have formed, or where fresh salt has not been worked into the carriageway.  "