Snowfall in the north claimed its first victim after a man was killed and his friend injured when their sledge smashed into a tree, police said.

The Met Office issued severe weather warnings for northeast England, Yorkshire and Northern Ireland, where roads became dangerous.

Snow even fell in London during the afternoon.

"There is severe weather, in particular along the eastern side of the country stretching from the Thames area up through England into parts of Scotland," said a Met Office spokesman, Barry Gromett.

He said the worst-affected areas in the north were covered by five-to-six centimetres (1.9-2.4 inches) of snow and temperatures hovered around zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit), he said.

Mark Young, 20, in Northumberland, northern England, became the first victim of the severe snow storms when his plastic sledge careered into a tree, killing him instantly. A fellow passenger, 19, suffered a leg injury, police said.

Accident prevention experts urged the public to take care when enjoying the snowy weather, picking safe slopes to sledge on and not travelling head-first.

"They should make sure it is in deep snow and that there are no obstructions like trees which they could hit," said a spokesman for the Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents.

High pressures over Scandinavia and northern Europe coupled with low pressures to the west of Britain have caused the cold spell here, to the surprise of those who assumed the worst of the winter was over following the warmest January for 15 years.

British Gas predicted a 17 percent surge in consumption over the coming days as householders turn up their heating to combat the cold weather.

The energy giant has put its 8,000 engineers on "red alert" to cope with an anticipated rise in central heating breakdowns.

The Met Office and the Highways Agency warned drivers to be extra vigilant and to delay journeys if bad weather persisted. Gromett also urged people to help vulnerable members of society such as the elderly.

The cold was likely to last all week, although there were indications of slightly higher temperatures towards the weekend.

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