Drivers have been warned to take care as snow and ice covered Oxfordshire’s roads this morning.

As many people returned to work and schools re-opened after the Christmas break, the Met Office issued a severe weather warning and said one or two centimetres of snow fell overnight.

Dan Adamson, a forecaster at MeteoGroup UK, the weather division of the Press Association, said: “It's going to be a bitterly cold morning — it's been a few years since it's been as cold as this."

Temperatures have plummeted to -13C in the Scottish Highlands, while on Saturday night in Benson, south Oxfordshire, temperatures of -9C were recorded.

A bitterly cold night is expected in southern England tonight, with temperatures falling as low as -6C.