Wintry weather set to get worse

Strong winds and wintry showers continued to lash Britain on Friday, causing problems at sea and on land, with more bad weather predicted for the weekend.

A fishing trawler ran into trouble off St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides, forcing rescue services to winch all 14 Spanish crew to safety.

Earlier, nine crew members were taken off the cargo vessel Riverdance after giving up on attempts to prevent it capsizing.

The vessel had been hit by a freak wave in the Irish Sea on Thursday causing cargo to shift and the ship to list. Ten crew and four passengers had been taken off overnight.

The Port of Dover was closed for a time on Thursday after strong winds made it dangerous.

Severe gales are believed to have caused several minor road accidents, while councils have sent out road gritters in an effort to combat the effects of snowfall.

On Thursday, a lorry driver died after his vehicle was blown over and struck the central reservation on the M6 in Cumbria.

Strong northwesterly winds of up to 70 mph are set to whip across the country over the weekend, sending temperatures as low as minus 6 degrees Celsius in parts of Scotland.

Central England is expected to see temperatures dip to minus 3 degrees.

The worst of the weather will be in the north and west of the country, with wintry showers and snow flurries spreading southwards.

A sharp frost will form overnight in the south.

Milder weather is expected to return next week.