An Arctic blast has forced hundreds of schools to remain shut in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with widespread snow and ice causing delays across road, rail and air travel throughout Monday.

Yellow warnings for snow and ice are in place across much of the country, with a warning of more widespread snow later this week.

Sunday had the coldest night of the winter so far for England and Wales, with Shap in Cumbria experiencing -10.9 °C.

Cold weather payments have been triggered for hundreds of thousands of people across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Pupils were unable to return to their classrooms on Monday after the Christmas break in many parts of northern Scotland, such as Aberdeenshire, Shetland and Orkney, where schools will remain shut on Tuesday.

Aberdeen City Council has said some schools, with staff living nearby, will be able to reopen.

In Moray, closures are being announced by schools themselves, on a school-by-school basis.

In Wales, schools have been shut in Gwynedd, Anglesey, Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend county, Caerphilly and Pembrokeshire.

The school gates also remain closed at more than 170 schools across Northern Ireland.

Flights were grounded at Liverpool John Lennon Airport after its runway had to be closed due to snow and ice.

Emily Ashall from Widnes was supposed to fly to Berlin on Monday morning, but her flight was eventually cancelled, despite passengers having initially boarded the plane.

She told the BBC that the airport had been "packed to the brim" before it was announced that no flights had been able to arrive or leave.

"It's a terrible situation, but it is what it is," she added.

The airport reopened its runway by mid-afternoon but said that "flights are, however, subject to delay or cancellation.

Flights were also affected at Belfast International Airport while the runway at the City of Derry Airport closed to clear snow and ice.

Eurostar trains from King's Cross St Pancras have also been unable to reach the Netherlands due to the poor weather.

Passengers travelling between London, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam are being advised to postpone their journey.

"Please don't come to the station if your train is shown as cancelled," a statement on the Eurostar website said.

"We regret that trains that can run will be subject to severe delays and possible last-minute cancellations."

This follows Eurostar services being hit after a power supply problem caused significant disruption in the Channel Tunnel last week, leaving thousands struggling to travel ahead of New Year's Eve.

Heavy snow is still disrupting trains across northern Scotland, with Network Rail Scotland warning that "exceptionally deep snow and severe weather conditions" are limiting the progress of its snow ploughs.

LNER has advised anyone travelling between Edinburgh and Aberdeen not to travel until 14:00 GMT on Tuesday.

Severe weather is also affecting services in Wales, with trains disrupted between Wales and Manchester Piccadilly, and between Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog.

Stagecoach has suspended all bus services in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire until further notice "in the interest of driver and passenger safety".

In Shropshire, firefighters trudged through half a mile of snow in the dark to deal with a chimney fire.

Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said a crew from Ellesmere was called to a house near Oswestry on Sunday night, and access was "extremely challenging".

Cold weather payments are how being applied to hundreds of thousands of people across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A payment of £25 is paid to a household on certain benefits for each seven consecutive day period when the average temperature in a local area is recorded as, or forecast to be, 0C or below.

The money is paid automatically into a bank account within 14 days to those eligible.

Cold Arctic air will remain across all parts of the UK on Monday.

Further snow showers are expected in areas exposed to northerly winds, especially northern Scotland, Northern Ireland, west Wales, south-west England, and parts of eastern England.

The Met Office has also issued a fresh yellow weather warning for most of Scotland, which runs into Tuesday.