BRITAIN endured more winter misery yesterday as a fresh wave of snow led to treacherous driving conditions following cutbacks in road gritting.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said the bad weather had brought the economy to a “standstill” – with estimates it was costing at least £600m a day.

Major roads were closed, some airport runways shut and train services disrupted in the wake of the latest snowfall. Gordon Brown promised a review of the arrangements for keeping Britain moving during severe conditions.

But the Prime Minister saluted workers and volunteers for maintaining the transport network during “the worst weather for 30 years”.

However, the FSB said lessons should be learned for coping with future cold spells.

Chairman John Wright said: “We need to be better prepared with more salt stocks for roads and better guidance for headteachers on when to close schools, to prevent staff from missing days of work and bringing the country, and the economy, to a standstill.”

Forecasters said the cold snap was not here to stay, with temperatures due to rise to the seasonal average of 7C (45F) by the end of the week. But they also warned of flash flooding across swathes of Britain, as the thaw set in.