Unusually heavy snowfall stranded hundreds of motorists, disrupted trains and shut down schools and airports across Britain on Wednesday as the country suffered through its longest cold snap in nearly 30 years.

The British military was called in overnight to help rescue motorists when up to 1,000 vehicles were caught in a massive snow-related traffic jam in Hampshire, in southern England. Many people were evacuated to nearby rescue centers but some people slept in their vehicles overnight.

Hospitals are being forced to cancel operations amid snow chaos and Britain's longest cold snap since 1981.

Roads are already blocked, public transport severely affected and schools shut down, releasing hundreds of school children to play in the ten inches of snow (25cm) that fell across parts of Hampshire, Oxfordshire, West Berkshire, Surrey and Buckinghamshire overnight.

The snow was still falling in London and across the UK today, and the Met Office is predicting six more days of deluges for parts of Britain, with temperates plummeting to generate treacherous driving conditions

The disruption turned the spotlight on infrastructure services in Britain.

The National Grid issued a "gas balancing alert" for only the second time ever on Monday after a 30 percent surge in demand because of the weather.

This was an indication that it might be necessary to cut supplies or get hold of more in order to avoid what it called a "gas supply emergency". A spokeswoman stressed that supplies were in place to cope with demand.

But the Conservatives have obtained figures which they said showed Britain had only eight days of supplies in storage, based on current usage levels.