Britain was braced for more icy blasts today as forecasters warned of continuing cold and the threat of more snow.

The worst of the conditions today were in Kent, with other areas enjoying brighter weather.

But weather experts said temperatures were set to fall well below freezing tonight.

In the North-East, more snow showers are expected, although the weather will not be as cold as it was last night.

Then tomorrow, a band of rain from the north is expected to meet warmer air in the south, leading to icy roads and the threat of more snow in South-East England.

Ian Cameron, head of the Met Office operations centre, said: ''Disruption to travel networks is a concern, especially as the bad weather will coincide with the Friday morning rush hour for some areas.

''We are looking at the worst conditions lasting for around two to three hours as the band of wintry weather spreads south through the day.'' He added that conditions would improve steadily from the north through the day as the snow turned back to rain.

A PA WeatherCentre spokesman said: ''We are not over the worst just yet. We could get temperatures as low as minus 7C (19F) or even minus 10C (14F) on Thursday night and then there is a real possibility of snow in the south.

''There could even be some snow showers in the second half of Saturday. Next week looks like seeing the end of the snow but it will stay cold.''

Rail services in Kent and East Anglia were hit by the continuing wintry conditions today. South Eastern Trains had to cancel some Kent services and there were delays of up to 70 minutes on other routes. Great Eastern services in East Anglia were also affected.

To compound the travel misery for London-bound commuters, there was severe disruption today on the Tube, with a number of lines affected by a combination of engineering work and signal failures.