HEAVY snow and freezing temperatures brought chaos to the North-East yesterday, with dozens of schools closing early following a lunchtime blizzard.

But police praised most motorists, saying there had been relatively few accidents.

Teesside and Newcastle airports were both closed at times during the day, with flights cancelled or delayed.

Rail services on the East Coast Main Line were also affected by delays and cancellations due to ice on the line.

Meanwhile, bus services were also affected by delays.

A spokesman for Durham County Council said the council's phone lines had been jammed during the blizzard with schools phoning to say they were sending pupils home. A number of schools closed after lunch and it was a similar story in Darlington.

Icy conditions in Teesside saw the Leven Bank road from Yarm, near Stockton, closed for part of the morning.

There were other problems on roads leading out of Billingham, where traffic was brought to a standstill during the morning rush-hour.

Several schools were closed in Hartlepool, Stockton and east Cleveland during late morning and early afternoon, but schools in Middlesbrough remained open.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council said its refuse collection service had been severely disrupted.

A Cleveland Police spokesman said that despite problems on roads near Yarm and lorries getting stuck on banks in east Cleveland, there had been fewer road accidents than on a normal day.

In North Yorkshire, a number of lorries were struggling on the A59 at Blubberhouses, near Harrogate, while difficult driving conditions were reported on the A165, A169, A174, A171 and A64 towards the coast.

The bad weather caused more than 30 schools in North Yorkshire to close.

Some staff at Wear Valley District Council were sent home with forecasters predicting more blizzards.

But it was business as usual for farmers around the region.

Stuart Robson, who farms near Staindrop, Teesdale, was preparing for lambing season in three weeks' time.

"The snow does make life a bit harder," he said, "but cold weather is often a blessing in disguise as it can kill off bugs and diseases in livestock."

In Darlington, security camera control room manager Graham Putt noticed a blizzard sweeping across the town in a "snow tornado" at about midday.

He said: "We saw this cloud storming across like a tornado. It was like a whirlwind - a swirling mass of snow coming towards us. I've never seen anything like that before."

The RAC's breakdown service reported receiving a call every three seconds from drivers stranded across the UK.

About 1,200 homes were affected by power cuts in the region, in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, and Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire.