HUNDREDS of Oxfordshire homes were left without power yesterday morning as disruption caused by heavy snow continued. 

Scottish and Southern Electric said 800 homes in Grove, Faringdon and Kidlington were still experiencing problems, more than 24 hours since the first snow began to fall.

Elsewhere in the county, some schools have announced they will be closed today because of the bad weather after almost all were shut yesterday.

The Met Office has issued a fresh warning for snow and ice today with temperatures dipping to about -7 or -8C this morning.

Oxfordshire County Council said its fleet of gritting lorries were out twice overnight. 

Oxford Mail:

Pic. Met Office (for Monday)

The Met Office warning states: "Some injuries are possible from slips and falls on icy surfaces and there will probably be some icy patches on untreated roads and cycle paths.

"Some roads and railways are likely to be affected with longer and more difficult journeys."

Elsewhere, the morning shift at the Cowley Mini plant was cancelled yesterday but the afternoon shift was expected to run as normal.

Spokesman for BMW Manuel Sattig said: "Over the weekend we closely monitored the weather and made the decision on Sunday evening to cancel the morning shift.

"As the safety of our associates is our first priority, we did not want to take any chances with the freezing conditions. This morning we decided to run the afternoon and night shifts as planned."

Buses are reported to be running as normal, with exceptions, and all the county's major roads have now been fully reopened.

Oxford Bus Company said yesterday buses to Barton were stopping at Green Road. 

And it has issued a rundown of services still affected.

Some trains were cancelled on Monday, including ones on the Chiltern line to Birmingham through Banbury and Bicester and GWR services north to Worcester.

Oxfordshire County Council said its gritters had been working through the night on A, B and some C roads.

There has been no confirmation about whether Oxford City Council's waste collections have been affected. 

But South Oxfordshire District Council says its waste crews are emptying bins 'where they can' and that most side streets are too dangerous to attempt collection using 26-tonne trucks. 

The county council has confirmed its household waste recycling centres have re-opened.

Non-urgent elective inpatient procedures were postponed at the John Radcliffe Hospital on Monday and will again be today. 

Kaelum Neville, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's spokesman, said: "All procedures that have been affected will be rescheduled with the patient as soon as possible.

"Elective inpatient procedures at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, Horton General and Churchill hospitals will go ahead as planned. Outpatient appointments will also be unaffected."

Allan Hayle, a lab and facilities manager working on the John Radcliffe site, arrived at work at 5.30am and said he was upset at the lack of work done to clear the snow in the car parks.

Dr Hayle said: “I got in quite early and I was really upset. It looked like a third world country when you came in. That mini roundabout as you came in, it was a single track road. It was unbelievable.”

But Mr Neville said there should be improvements overnight.

He added: "All of our car parks at each of our hospital sites are currently being cleared and gritted in preparation for tonight’s expected cold weather, and we hope that they will all be accessible tomorrow morning."

Monday's Lowlands Area Planning Sub-Committee meeting at West Oxfordshire District Council was cancelled due to the weather.

The council said applications that would have been considered at this meeting will go to the one on January 15 instead, and apologised for the inconvenience.

Some leisure centres and council services have been limited or suspended, including those run by Cherwell District Council.

The service area at Cherwell Valley services on the M40 has also been reopened after being closed. 

Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens has decided to close until 'at least Saturday 16th' due to the extreme weather. 

Oxford services on the M40 have also confirmed that an official opening ceremony for a new Pizza Express restaurant has been cancelled.

See all the pictures as snow covered the county