COMMUTERS faced more delays as snow continued to cause travel chaos across the area.

Hundreds were stranded at Manchester Airport overnight as staff struggled to clear the backlog of flights caused by yesterday's runway closures. Passengers were being urged to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.

Traffic on the region’s roads struggled again in the arctic conditions. Motorways and many main roads appear to be clear and moving this morning, but roads off the main stretches were still treacherous.

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Manchester Airport has released the following statement: "We are continuing to clear the backlog of flights. A total of 10 flights from yesterday are still to leave. The majority of these flights will be leaving today, however some airlines have re-booked passengers onto flights later in the week.

"We are working with our airlines to arrange overnight accommodation for passengers whose flights have been delayed, however some passengers stayed in the terminals overnight where they were given food, water and blankets to make them as comfortable as possible.

"We are urging our passengers to check with their airline before they travel to the airport as bad weather in Europe and USA means some airlines have cancelled flights."

The M60 was closed for an hour yesterday afternoon while gritting took place. One council was forced to call other authorities amid fears it could run out of salt supplies as the cold weather looked set to continue.

Thousands of Christmas shoppers, meanwhile, braved Sunday's freezing temperatures and headed to Manchester and the Trafford Centre, while other families made the most of the snow in parks and gardens.

Ambulance chiefs say they dealt with 800 falls on Sunday – four times the usual number for this time of year. By 3pm, they had received 2,000 calls, the same as for an average 24-hour period.

Nearly six inches of snow fell on the Pennines and about two inches in urban areas. Temperatures were expected to sink to minus 6C in parts of the region last night.

A North West Ambulance Service spokeswoman urged people to take care and said: “Elderly people, even in their own homes, can be at risk of hypothermia, so please look out for your relatives and neighbours.”

Nine gritters and snowploughs worked through the night in Oldham and eight in Manchester, where staff have also been working to clear footpaths.

Rochdale council has denied it faces a shortage of grit after it emerged officers have been ringing around other local authorities.

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Disgruntled passengers at Manchester Airport have complained of a lack of information as they tried to reach their destinations in the wake of severe weather.

Queues snaked halfway down the Terminal 2 building as several hundred people attempted to get onto alternative flights after a spate of cancellations due to heavy snow and ice.

One angry woman confronted the airport’s managing director about her lengthy wait to visit her son in the Philippines.

Bridget Fogg, 50, of Bolton, told airport chief Andrew Cornish that she had been in the queue at the KLM ticket desk since 4am and had still not reached the front in nearly seven hours.

She pleaded to him: "We have hardly moved in that queue. There is one person sitting on the desk. Why can’t someone lend them a body to help people book their flights? It’s very simple to book holidays on a computer."

Mr Cornish replied: "I apologise on their behalf. If I have to sit behind the desk I will."

Extra staff were soon provided at the Air France and KLM desk to provide hope for the weary travellers.

Mrs Fogg and husband Gary, 54, were due to fly to Amsterdam en route to Manila and then Borocay Island, where their son Sam is working.

"We had a two-hour delay on Sunday before we finally boarded, but then we were held on the runway for five and a half hours before we were told the flight was cancelled," she complained.

An airport spokeswoman added they were experiencing "knock-on effects" from Sunday’s poor weather conditions but Runway 1 had been operating as normal since 11pm on Sunday.

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A spokeswoman said: “There is sufficient grit to cover our immediate needs and we have a further 1,000 tonnes being delivered tomorrow.” She confirmed the council had contacted neighbouring authorities as a back-up in case of ‘unforeseen’ and ‘unlikely’ circumstances.

Mountain rescue teams in Oldham, Bolton and Rossendale have been on stand-by throughout the weekend. The Bolton team said it went to the aid of an emergency ambulance carrying a patient which was stuck on an icy track in the Astley Green area of Wigan.

Christmas holidaymakers at Manchester Airport have been hit hardest by the cold snap, with snowstorms in the US and continental Europe also affecting services.

Some passengers claimed they were on planes waiting on the Tarmac for up to eight hours.

M.E.N reader Tim Tegan, 50, from Timperley, said passengers on a flight from Orlando took six hours to clear arrivals.

Flights to Geneva and Zurich were among those grounded. There were also significantdelays on flights to Dublin and Dusseldorf.

Maureen Brown, from Worsley, who was travelling with her family to Geneva, said: “We got here and they said the flight has been cancelled, so we tried to book on to the next one. The queues are massive and the information has been pretty poor.”

An airport spokesman said extra staff have been deployed to help passengers in the terminals.

He said: “We are continuing to clear the backlog and to get our passengers where they need to be for Christmas.”

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