In Pictures: Wigan in the snow

Freezing air from Russia gripped the UK in the coldest end to February in years, bringing with it a blanket of heavy snowfall.

Commuters faced morning rush hour chaos as a result, as the icy roads made for dangerous driving conditions.

Everything from bin collections to bike rides were also affected. Wigan Council announced that while waste crews were on their rounds as usual, they struggled to access some smaller streets, but would return to collect any unemptied bins as soon as possible.

Inspiring Healthy Lifestyles, the borough’s fitness and wellbeing service, also cancelled all of its health walks and cycle rides for the day due to the weather conditions. It also advised it was likely that further activities throughout the week would also be called off.

Some residents decided to make the most of the wintry weather, however, getting out and about to take some wonderful photos of a very white Wigan.

But while the snow made for some great pictures of the DW Stadium, that was where the good news ended for Wigan Athletic. The cold snap forced officials to call off their away match against Bristol Rovers following a pitch inspection.

Temperatures are set to plunge as low as -8c over the course of the week, and several yellow weather warnings have been issued across the North West.