WHILE children revelled in a winter Woking wonderland as schools closed early, people travelling to and from work were battling the blizzards.

Angry commuters were left frustrated by South West Trains’ revised timetables.

But even though service alterations were made before a single flake of snow had fallen, councillor Ann-Marie Barker reckons SWT’s pre-emptive action just about struck the right balance.

She said: “I asked a few people about the changes when they were announced on Thursday and I got mixed reviews. There was a lot of division and some people thought it was a terrible idea to be cancelling trains before the snow had hit.

“There were no trains first thing on Friday and only two an hour after that, as opposed to four or five.

“On balance it makes sense to run less trains if they can assure they run on time. I think a lot of people had decided not to go into work on Monday so it would have been easier to cope.”

When the snow did fall on Friday, it came down fast and furiously.

Schools across the borough were hit by closures, resulting in a white nightmare for working parents but powdered delight for youngsters.

As the snow eased on Sunday and Monday, temperatures remained icy and it wasn’t much joy for students sitting exams who were forced to battle their way to school or college, otherwise they would have to wait until the summer to take them.

Surrey Police’s Nicola Bur-ress confirmed that, despite early warnings, the force had an influx of calls as icy roads got the better of Woking’s drivers.

A statement said: “Without going through every call, we did experience an increase in the number of calls reporting collisions due to snow and ice on Friday – our advice to motorists was not to travel unless absolutely essential.”

The snow was back with a vengeance on Tuesday evening, with Woking FC having to cancel their game despite fans pitching up on Monday to help clear the Kingfield ground.