The AA is warning drivers in Barnet to stay at home on Friday due to the icy road conditions.

London Underground is running a normal service although there are delays and bus companies are running a limited service.

But after nightmare journeys to get home last night, many people are too exhausted to get into work.

Our reporter Kevin Burchall took 14 hours to get home to Ware in Hertfordshire from our office in Church Road, Hendon, due to the traffic, while Councillor John Marshall took two-and-a-half hours just to get from Finchley to Hendon a five-minute journey when the roads are clear.

Bus drivers were abandoning their buses and walking home, said a spokesman for Metroline.

Barnet Hospital was inaccessible and staff stayed there all night taking on double shifts. At least 46 schools out of 121 in the borough were closed on Friday morning.

A spokeswoman for the AA said: "It was absolute chaos on the roads. The snow came down so quickly and so thickly and then on top of that it's iced over as well." She said that grit where gritters have been able to get on to the icy roads was having no effect. "You can't put salt on the mush," she said, "it just disintegrates and makes more mush."

Last night the Northern Line was terminating at Golders Green and Archway, because of ice on the tracks, leaving people to walk home or catch buses stuck in gridlocked traffic.

A spokeswoman for London Underground said: "The tracks were de-iced every hour from 9.30am yesterday morning it would usually be every three hours. Obviously it wasn't enough because the weather was so severe and it wasn't expected."

Thameslink trains are running a reduced service this morning. Due to frozen points, only one track is open, which is being used for northbound and southbound trains. Normally four tracks would be available. Thameslink were operating four trains an hour last night. Normally there would be between six and eight.

In Claremont Road, Cricklewood, a private ambulance slid into a bus on Thursday night, knocking a female paramedic unconscious.

January 31, 2003 12:00