UPDATE: THOUSANDS WITHOUT POWER AS SNOW RETURNS TO COUNTY

MOTORISTS looking to brave the freezing weather to visit family or the post-Christmas sales faced hazardous conditions on the M40 earlier today.

Other traffic is slow on the M40 north of Oxford because of the volume of people travelling on it, while Lower Road in Long Hanborough is closed because of flooding. 

Earlier today, Highways England warned of difficult driving conditions after snow fell on the M40 between J7 A40/A329 (Thame) and J5 A40 (Stokenchurch).

There were also delays near the junctions for Bicester and Banbury.

Oxford Mail:

Google live traffic image north of Oxford at 5.30pm

Drivers are urged to drive with caution, with crashes reported elsewhere in the county on minor routes, including Chipping Norton.

There were also delays on the A34 after a lorry jack-knifed near Didcot this morning but this has now been cleared.

Highways England said the accident happened on the northbound carriageway at Chilton between the A4185 (Chilton Interchange) and A4130 (Milton Interchange).

There were delays southbound on the same stretch, with snow on the road and an earlier broken down vehicle causing queues.

Reports also came through that several lorries had broken down or come to a stop due to the snow and ice. Two lanes of the M4 westbound at Hungerford were also closed because of 'an accident and snow'.

Watch our traffic and travel feed for live updates throughout the day: oxfordmail.co.uk/li/traffic_and_travel.in.Oxford/