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　　old to expect delays and flight cancellations "beyond Christmas Day".

　　Snow and ice grounded two thirds of flights at Heathrow yesterday, with Terminals One and Three becoming so congested that passengers were told to stay away.

　　Only one of the airport's runways was open and staff had cleared just half of the planes' docking bays. All short-haul flights were cancelled.

　　Some travellers faced a fourth night sleeping in terminal buildings in the hope of getting on a plane.

　　As the recriminations began, BAA, the airport's operator, was accused of "chronic under-investment" in the equipment and manpower that could have kept the airport open.

　　Lord Adonis, the former Labour transport secretary, accused the company of making Britain look like a "Third World country".

　　"BAA needs to get a grip on the situation and the Government should be on its case, not simply blaming the weather," he said.

　　Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, said: "It can't be beyond the wit of man surely to . . . get the planes moving and to have more than one runway going."

　　Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, made a statement to the Commons last night, telling MPs he had instructed his officials to work with BAA to ensure that Heathrow would not come to a halt in future in the event of more heavy snow. As the row intensified, David Cameron was forced to deny that he had failed to get to grips with the impact of the extreme weather that has paralysed much of the country's transport network.

　　The Prime Minister blamed the "exceptionally severe" conditions.

　　In other developments:

　　* The AA's breakdown service reported its busiest day in its 105-year history, with temperatures so low that gritting salt was useless. The AA attended 30,000 calls, three times the number for a usual Monday

　　* Forecasters predicted record low temperatures on Thursday of -26C. Heathrow was expecting a further 5cm of snow last night and Gatwick 10cm

　　* Thousands of Eurostar passengers formed a queue 1.2 miles long as they waited up to seven hours to board trains at St Pancras station

　　* Trains on the East Coast Main Line between London and Leeds and London and York were cancelled. No trains ran between Birmingham New Street and Coventry.

　　BAA, which is controlled by the Spanish company Ferrovial, said yesterday that two thirds of flights from Heathrow would be cancelled until 6am tomorrow at the earliest.

　　A spokesman said: “Passengers should anticipate further delays and cancellations in the following days and potentially beyond Christmas Day.”

　　The company, which is expected to announce pre-tax profits of nearly ￡1 billion this year, spent just ￡500,000 on equipment to deal with snow and ice.

　　Colin Matthews, its chief executive, will be paid more than ￡1 million in salary, bonuses and pension contributions.

　　Gatwick, which yesterday operated 90 per cent of its flights, spent ￡1 million on new snow ploughs this year and will spend a further ￡7 million next year. It has 150 staff working to clear the snow and ice, compared to 50 snow and ice-clearing specialists at Heathrow.

　　Despite the backlog, flights have been leaving Heathrow less than half full because airport security staff have been clocking off at 10.30pm.

　　In the early hours of Monday morning an Airbus A380, which would normally have 500 passengers, left Heathrow with just 200 people on board. Last night agreement was reached with airlines that would allow staff to work until midnight.

　　Cardiff airport was closed yesterday while Exeter, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Luton Bristol and Southampton airports were subject to severe delays.

　　A spokesman for BAA admitted it had failed to invest enough ahead of winter. He said: “The investments that we made were applicable to a typical British winter. Looking forward we are going to have to consider what we have.”

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