SHOPPERS stayed away from the centre of York as the city endured another day of snow showers and freezing temperatures.

As the winter blast continued yesterday, shop owners reported a steep drop in customers and spending.

Home and garden store Barnitts, in Colliergate, described Wednesday as “an extremely poor day of trading” and said the shop had closed at 2pm.

A spokesman said: “We’ve noticed a small decline from last year, though business has been better today (Thursday) despite quieter streets than yesterday.”

Adam Sinclair, managing director of Mulberry Hall in Stonegate, said the number of people in York and the amount being spent had fallen over the past six days.

He said: “We are confident it’s only weather-related, and actually online spending and telephone spend is significantly up.

“That means we have got to be here processing orders. We can’t afford to shut our business.”

More than 300 schools across York, North and East Yorkshire closed yesterday and many workers stayed at home after Tuesday’s blizzards left them unable to get to work.

Snowfall was expected to ease last night and today, although it was feared temperatures last night could fall as low as minus 13C.

City of York Council said priority routes and secondary routes were gritted yesterday afternoon while snow ploughs and gritters were also being diverted to Park&Ride sites.

A new small tractor-mounted snowplough was also clearing snow and slush from city footpaths and gritting crews were due to work through the night.

Council workers were expected to be on the streets again from 5.30am today.

On the county’s roads, police said last night there had been no serious injuries, with only 15 minor traffic incidents reported since midnight on Wednesday.

Police in Selby teamed up yesterday with Morrisons supermarket to deliver bread, milk and bananas to vulnerable and elderly residents in the area.

So far there are no reports of stores in the area running out of stock, though Tesco at Clifton Moor had set up an automated voice message saying they could not give “accurate information on stock levels”.

A spokesman for Sainsbury’s in North Yorkshire said there was “definitely no need to panic”.