Treacherous road conditions meant around 150 people were forced to spend the night at Brent Cross shopping centre on Thursday.

Staff volunteered to look after the stranded shoppers while shops donated food and other essentials to take care of them.

Brent Cross commercial director Tom Nathan said: "Rather than close at 8pm and asking customers to leave we invited them into the centre.

"We ended up with about 500 in the centre through to around 2am. We had managed to get a number of them away by then because the roads were clearer or there were relatives who came to collect them.

"We had people sleeping on the seats. We had them on our centre stage area, they made themselves comfortable wherever they could. The more vulnerable people were taken up to a conference room.

"We had about half a dozen babies, a few pregnant ladies and an 89-year-old lady from Hampstead.

"People were scared to go even though they had their cars, in case they got into serious traffic or slid on the roads. It was treacherous out there.

"Fortunately Boots managed to give us some powdered milk and nappies. All the Starbucks staff volunteered to stay open and gave out coffee and drinks. Waitrose were there and donated a lot of sandwiches, cup-a-soups and Pot Noodles."

Shop workers, security men, cleaners and customer service staff offered to stay and help, handing out blankets and arranging car shares.

"We tried to car share to make sure any car leaving was full, but there were still people who couldn't get picked up or go wherever they wanted to go," said Mr Nathan.

"We did have some blankets. We kept the heating on in the centre. A lot of people had their own coats although it was cool, I hope there wasn't anyone who was desperately cold.

"The people who work at Brent Cross, in particular my team and some of the stores, were just fantastic. Some stayed overnight. They were just remarkable."

The final overnight customers managed to get buses at around 9am this morning.

January 31, 2003 14:00