THE region largely escaped the first serious snowfall of the winter yesterday.

Although some coastal resorts caught a few inches, the majority of the North-East and North Yorkshire missed the wintry weather that brought chaos to other parts of the country.

Snow was mainly confined to Hartlepool and Scarborough.

In other parts of the country, thousands of schools were closed in Wales and more than 4,000 homes in Aberdeenshire were left without power.

Last night, the Met Office said the snow appeared to have done its worst. Temperatures will rise over the weekend turning sleet to rain.

Bookmakers are taking a record number of bets on a white Christmas this year after heavy snowfalls in parts of the country.

Ladbrokes spokesman Karl Williams said: ''By November we've normally taken a few bets on a white Christmas, but this year the number of bets is over a thousand already.

''With very cold weather forecast for many areas this weekend, we expect our phones will be very busy as the gamble on a white Christmas starts to snowball.''

Meanwhile, bookmakers cut the odds on it being the coldest Christmas Day since records began from 25-1 to 20-1. The record holder is Gainford, in County Durham, which reached -18.3C in 1878.