France declared an orange weather alert - one step under the maximum red alert - in 19 regional departments.

One driver stuck in his car on a freeway in the Alps with four passengers, Kevin Clavel, said: "To go 130 kilometres it's taken us 10 hours." Elsewhere in France, it was wind and not snow that wrought havoc for travellers.

Storms packing gusts of up to 160km/h forced the temporary closure of France's port of Calais on the English Channel and the suspension of the running of the car ferries to and from Britain. A few kilometres outside the industrial northern city, thousands of illegal migrants living in makeshift camps struggled through a second night of freezing temperatures. "The conditions outside are hellish in the 'jungles'," said David Lacour, the director of Solid'R, which is running a care centre to help migrants survive the cold. Up to 2,300 migrants are thought to be in Calais and surrounding areas, where they live in flimsy tents waiting for a change to complete their final journey to Britain.

Strong winds also forced the closure of gardens of the famed chateau of Versailles near Paris.

In Britain, many motorists were forced to abandon their cars or were trapped in vehicles for hours after becoming snowed in. Dozens of people travelling from Sheffield to London spent the night in a church after their bus became stuck.

Flights to European destinations took off with delays from Manchester Airport. Liverpool's John Lennon Airport and Leeds Bradford International closed late on Friday as workers cleared snow from the runways. The airports have reopened.

Forecasters predict temperatures in Britain could drop to minus 10 degrees Celsius this week.