South Western Railway has apologised to dozens of passengers who were stuck in trains overnight.

A total of five trains were stranded overnight on the route between London and Weymouth, Network Rail said.

Commuter Philip Brown endured more than 15 hours on a train with 50 people on board which became stuck overnight in the snow.

The 49-year-old, who was travelling from London Waterloo to Bournemouth, Dorset, when the train became stuck in the New Forest.

He said: “I didn’t have any food or water, there were no buffet facilities on board, the train lost power and we lost heating and lights.

“I couldn’t tell you how cold it was but it was cold enough to prevent you from sleeping. People were taking it in their stride although one guy was quite agitated. People were wrapping jumpers round their legs trying to keep warm.”

A South Western Railway spokesman said: “We sincerely apologise to passengers who were stranded on trains overnight. They have all been taken to Bournemouth station where South Western Railway staff are providing hot food and drinks.

“Hotel accommodation will be provided for those unable to travel onwards from Bournemouth.

“Our staff, together with Network Rail have battled tirelessly throughout the night to try to get trains moving in very challenging conditions, and will continue to do so throughout the day.

“We are advising passengers not to attempt to travel today, but for those who have already started their journey, we recommend they return as soon as possible.

“Due to the continued extreme weather conditions, we will be closing the train service early today.”

Electricity North West says the number of properties without power has increased from 3,000 to 5,000 in the region. It blamed 100 separate faults on the network, each requiring teams to attend site to make repairs.

The combination of very high winds and snow has made restoration efforts very difficult.

Electricity North West incident manager, Chris Fox said: “High winds across the North West have caused damage to our overhead line network, and the snow and ice have added weight to the lines in some instances causing lines to come down and poles to break.

“The snow is also causing access issues even with our fleet of 4x4s, and we are working with the emergency services to highlight priority areas for restoration. Please get in touch with us if you are without power and stay safe and warm until our engineers can restore power.”

The main hospital in Exeter has postponed all planned surgery and diagnostic appointments, due to the severe weather.

An “Internal critical incident” has been declared by the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust.

It said: “Due to the severe conditions, the trust has declared an internal critical incident which means we are prioritising all available staff and resources to urgent and emergency services only today at our main Wonford site and in community teams.

“As a result we have postponed all outpatient and planned routine surgery and diagnostic appointments today and we will contact all patients affected to reschedule as soon as possible. All emergency services including our emergency department are running as normal at this time.

“We would ask the public to continue their support for our staff by not visiting friends or relatives in the hospital today unless absolutely essential.”

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Readers around the UK have been sharing more of their images of snowy scenes.

Mario Alberto Moreno Rocha, a research student at the University of St Andrews living in Dundee, said there has been no academic activity - until today - due weather warnings in Scotland. This morning he spotted some undergraduates in their gowns in St Salvator’s quad:

Sales office administrator, Ness, 53 from Castleford tried to avoid an accident by leaving her car at home and walking to work instead. Unfortunately the car has been written off after another car hit it:

Gwyneth Couchman, 65, from Cwm Penmachno, Snowdonia is often snowed in but that doesn’t stop her husband from going out to the shops for supplies: “Thankfully our community is a very caring one and neighbours help out with lifts from the bottom of our track. This is my husband returning with the essentials - bread, milk, cheese and the Guardian of course.”

Source: Guardian