Teenager Killed In Sledging Accident

Media reports said the girls had been using an improvised metal sledge made out of the roof of a car.

Heavy snow that has crippled the transport network and closed thousands of schools is forecast to return over a wide band of England and Wales overnight and during Thursday.

The severest weather would stretch from Somerset and south Wales to Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, the Met Office said on Wednesday.

It forecast up to 20 cm of snow in the higher parts of Wales and the Derbyshire Dales.

The Highways Agency advised drivers to check conditions before setting out on journeys and to take with them emergency food, water and a spade to clear snow.

The southeast, getting back to normal after Monday's big freeze which saw London's transport come to a standstill and hundreds of schools closed, was forecast to have rain overnight followed by patchy showers.

The family of a teenage girl who was killed after suffering serious injuries in a snow sledging accident said she had "everything to live for".

Francesca Anobile, 16, of Sheffield, was one of four teenage girls involved in the crash at Rother Valley Country Park, northern England, on Tuesday afternoon.

She was airlifted to hospital but died hours later, South Yorkshire police said.

"We are devastated by the loss of Francesca who was a beautiful, witty, intelligent and popular young woman with everything to live for. She was set for an outstanding academic career and had an unbelievable work ethic," her family said.

Another of the teenagers, Nikki Burns, 16, was being treated for injuries in hospital, police added, but there were no details of her condition.

Media reports said the girls had been using an improvised metal sledge made from a car roof. The sledge crashed through a barbed wire fence before hitting another fence at the bottom of a hill, the reports said.