Updated 13:07 POLICE have been called out to more than 50 crashes on North Yorkshire’s roads so far today as the heaviest snowfall for years causes chaos around the region.

In the space of seven-and-a-half hours today, officers dealt with 52 collisions – including nine in York, 14 in the Selby area and three across Ryedale – as ice and slush made driving conditions treacherous.

However, the force said most of the crashes were minor and no drivers have received serious or life-threatening injuries, adding that most routes were “passable with care” at noon today.

A female driver was treated for minor injuries at the scene of one accident on the A64 between Bilbrough and Tadcaster at 9.15am after her Audi car collided with a lorry, while 40 minutes later a Nissan Primera hit a lamp-post on the same road at Bilbrough, although the driver was not injured.

Ambulance crews also took two people to hospital just before 8am after their car skidded off the road into a lay-by at Grimston Bar roundabout on the edge of York, while police and paramedics were called to another accident on Wigginton Road, between York’s Outer Ring Road and the city centre, at around 7.30am when a tanker overturned and a car lost control before skidding into the lorry.

All Saints RC School in York was also forced to close for the day, while Fulford Secondary School was due to end its day earlier than usual at 1.15pm today to allow pupils from outlying villages such as Elvington and Wheldrake to get home without problems.

The move was taken as the Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for Yorkshire and the Humber, with heavier snow expected during Monday and overnight and temperatures continuing to plunge below zero.

* For more information on how the weather is set to affect York and North and East Yorkshire, keep checking thepress.co.uk for updates throughout the day.

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