Snow Means Wimbledon Schools Close Early

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Wimbledon trains are also affected

The heavy snowfall across Wimbledon meant many local schools closed at lunchtime on Friday (January 18), and South West Trains are running a revised timetable from the station.

Although all of Merton's schools opened as usual in the morning, the arrival of the snow at the end of the morning rush-hour meant many asked parents to pick their children up earlier than usual.

Check Merton council's special page to find the latest on your local school: Click here.

And AFC Wimbledon's match at Accrington Stanley on Saturday (Janauary 19) has already been postponed because of the wintery conditions in Lancashire.

Although Wimbledon woke to a distinct lack of snow on Friday, it began arriving from around 8.45am. Here's a selection of local photos - some from Twitter, courtesy of @19wcgc, @Londscotgc and @wimbogroundsman:

Revised train South West train timetables have been in operation for many routes and services, including the following:

· London Waterloo to Alton and Basingstoke (stopping service)
· London Waterloo to Epsom and Dorking
· Stopping services to Woking, Guildford and Kingston via Wimbledon
· London Waterloo to Reading and Kingston via Richmond.

Jake Kelly, Customer Service Director for the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance, said: "Over the past few days, we have been carefully monitoring the weather forecast to enable us to make a decision about the level of service we should plan to run. With severe weather warnings in place for heavy snow on our network, we have taken the decision to put a special timetable in place.

"We know that what our passengers want most is certainty about when and how they are going to get to their destination. This special timetable helps ensure this by running slightly fewer services and allowing more time for trains to cope with poor conditions."

To see all the affected services go to: www.southwesttrains.co.uk.

January 18, 2013