A 70-YEAR-OLD man made a dramatic escape after falling through the ice of his frozen lake.

Peter Baring was testing the strength of the ice on the lake at his home in Ardington, near Wantage, on Monday at 9.40am.

After making it halfway, he felt it weaken and tried to hurry across, but the ice broke and he fell in.

Mr Baring fought his way out after two minutes in the freezing lake.

But when someone heard his cries for help, police, firefighters and an air ambulance descended on his home to launch an emergency rescue.

When they arrived, Mr Baring was in the bath.

He said: “I fully admit I made an absolute fool of myself and I’m very grateful to the emergency services.

“I usually test the ice when it freezes and thought it seemed safe as houses, but obviously it wasn’t.”

Extreme weather plunged Oxfordshire roads into chaos on Monday evening as snow blanketed large areas in the south and east of the county.

On the A4130 near Wallingford motorists abandoned their cars, and the AA said it received double the normal emergency calls from Oxfordshire.

The Met Office had predicted fine weather on Monday morning, but at 10.43am issued a flash snow warning for 3pm.

John Cook, 61, landlord at the Dog and Duck, in Highmoor Cross, said: “It was horrendous — our car park is strewn with cars people have abandoned.

“When we went out in the morning the five-day forecast said there would be sun.

“It was bad coming from Didcot, then terrible by Crowmarsh Gifford. The gritters looked as if they hadn’t touched the roads.”

Met Office forecaster Barry Gromett, said: “We try to give people at least four hours’ notice and it can be very difficult to predict these things. Oxfordshire suffered particularly badly because low-lying areas suddenly come against high ground, which can cause a sudden cooling.”

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Owen Morton said: “The county council's gritters have been in operation for several days.

“We routinely salt 43 per cent of Oxfordshire County Council's road network in cold weather, which is higher than the average for counties across the South-East.”

South Central Ambulance Service moved its response to level four, warning of “severe pressure” on the service.

Last night, Oxford bookmakers River Racing lengthened the odds on a white Christmas from 2/1 to 5/2.