A passenger today revealed how she and 55 other people spent the night stranded on a train with no heating and toilet facilities, as snow drifts wreaked havoc across Britain.
Paula Baker was on her way to Weymouth from Waterloo in London when the South Western Railway service ground to a halt at New Milton in Hampshire.
The train has been unable to move any further because the rail line had frozen.
Passengers spent the night stranded in the carriages and Ms Baker claims the driver locked himself in his cab and refused to tell them what was going on.
Around 55 people are stuck on the train without toilets and they have been keeping by warm by dancing to Madonna songs.
Paula Baker (pictured on Good Morning Britain) was on her way to Weymouth from Waterloo in London when the South Western Railway service ground to a halt at New Milton in Hampshire
Passengers spent the night stranded in the carriages and Ms Baker claims the driver locked himself in his cab and refused to tell them what was going on
Speaking to Good Morning Britain from the train, after 15 hours stranded, she said: ‘It normally takes two hours and I was going to be getting off at Weymouth and we literally ground to a halt with no heating.
‘We’ve still not got heating. It’s daylight now and that’s the light we’ve got on the carriage and there’s about 55 passengers on the train.
‘We’ve had no toilet facilities, no heating and no information for 13 odd hours. We’ve had passengers threatening to walk off the train. The driver locked himself in his carriage.
‘The guard keeps coming out to apologise but we’ve had no information about what’s going on.
‘We moved a foot (at 2.30am) and stopped again and that’s where we’ve been. We’ve keep saying “has anybody rung anybody? They just said “no we’ve been speaking to the controllers and we’re just really sorry” and that’s all we’ve had.
‘(The driver) didn’t come out to speak to us. Somebody asked for the driver to come out and explain to everyone what was going on and that wasn’t forthcoming.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain from the train, after 15 hours stranded, she said: ‘It normally takes two hours and I was going to be getting off at Weymouth and we literally ground to a halt with no heating’
‘Earlier on we put some Madonna on so we were dancing to that trying to keep warm. We’ve been chatting and getting to know each other as it’s been too cold to sleep.
‘But everybody now is tired, hungry, fed up and just wants to get out and go into somewhere warm.’
A spokesman for South Western Railway said: ‘We apologise sincerely to all those who have been stuck on trains overnight. We are working hard to get people home and are in the process of detraining passengers from those trains.
‘A train is on its way as we speak to pick up the passengers who are currently on the train near Christchurch. This train will arrive shortly.
‘Passengers will be taken to Bournemouth station where we have staff waiting to give them hot food and drinks.’
Traffic at a standstill on the M27 near Southampton following a crash yesterday that saw saw cars backing up the motorway
This tree fell on the M6 in Lancashire, where a car crashed. Police who tweeted the picture say that fortunately there were no injuries
Rescue operations were launched across the country this morning as drivers found themselves trapped on motorways caught in Storm Emma’s snow drifts.
Devon and Cornwall police have launched a major rescue mission after 300 drivers became trapped in sub-zero temperatures as the storm claimed 10 lives.
About 100 vehicles were stuck in snow on the A303 at Ilminster, Somerset, where police and rescue teams were deployed to save those stranded.
Hampshire Police had to enlist military help as drivers were trapped on the A31 due to the traffic build-up. The South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust was forced to appeal for help from 4×4 owners to move its staff around in the adverse conditions.
A major emergency is declared in Cornwall as Storm Emma continues to cause chaos with traffic pictured here queued on the A30
Pictured: A tractor hauls piles of snow in Kent yesterday as it attempts to clear a road laden with 8ft drifts of the white stuff
Police officers were called to attend this crash on the M27 as snow made driving near Southampton more difficult than usual
Drivers had been urged by transport authorities to consider whether they needed to embark on journeys after the RAC attended 8,000 breakouts as of 5pm.
Britain also faces running out of gas as the intense demand caused by plunging temperatures outstrips supply across the country on what has been the coldest day in March since records began in 1959.
National Grid, the operator of the gas pipeline network, has issued a ‘gas deficit warning’ as the nation ramps up the thermostats while Storm Emma batters the coast, combining with the Beast from the East to bring sub-zero weather, icy blasts and ‘blizzard-like’ conditions.
More than 500 flights have been cancelled in England and Scotland so far, including 157 at London Heathrow, 129 at Edinburgh, 77 at London Gatwick, 67 at London City and 48 at Bristol. A further 194 were cancelled at Dublin.