Maidstone woke up to a covering of snow this morning after heavy showers over night.

Motorists are being warned not to make unnecessary journeys as some roads are blocked or closed.

"I would like to thank the people of Kent for their co-operation during a very busy time for us and the other emergency services", said Chief Superintendent Matthew Nix from Kent Police.

"We want to ensure we give the correct priority to calls and would therefore urge people not to ring in unless there is a threat to life or another safety issue. In the last twelve hours we have experienced double the number of calls we usually receive"

"Our staff are working extremely hard to ensure that we continue to protect the people of Kent."

Blue Bell Hill (A229) and Detling Hill (A249) have reopened after being closed this morning when lorries became stuck in the icy conditions.

But police warned that Sutton Valence and Willington Street are still closed. The A20 at Harrietsham has also been closed because of an accident.

Live updates of road closures are available at www.kent.police.uk

Frant Road in Tunbridge Wells is also closed, and the A26 at Tunbridge Wells is barely passable.

Police said there are lorries stuck on Blue Bell Hill because of the snow and ice.

There are also delays on the trains after reports a tree had fallen on the line Strood.

Southeastern Trains said on its website that snow and icy weather "may be affecting services this morning", but they were aiming to run as full a service as possible.

This morning services were suspended between London and Ashford International via Maidstone East; from Strood to Maidstone West, Paddock Wood and Tonbridge; and from London to Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, and Tunbridge Wells.

Many mid Kent villages were totally snowbound, including Yalding (pictured).

Firefighters said they had not been out to any major incidents but had been called by motorists stuck on icy hills.

But callers to the fire service's control room, based at Tovil near Maidstone are being diverted to East Kent due to staff shortages.

Maidstone Hospital is still handling emergency and planned operations and outpatient appointments, but many patients have had to cancel.

Spokesman Darren Yates said many staff due to come off their night shifts at 7am had stayed working until 9am to cope with the chaos. Staff have also got stuck in with shovels to clear snow away from hospital entrances.

Maidstone Crown Court has suspended sittings for today, and is only dealing with emergency cases.

Funerals have also been postponed at Maidstone crematorium. Five were due to take place today but although the crematorium is open, four families have been forced to postpone.

Maidstone post office in Bank Street has a sign on the door warning people their will be no more collections for post today. This could cause Christmas card misery for those hoping to catch the last day of second class posting before Christmas.

Even TV presenter Davina McCall had to sleep in her car after getting stranded in the county!

Snow blanketed areas across the county, with some parts being hit by more than 20cm overnight. Medway and Tunbridge Wells appear to be the worst hit.

The snow brought out some Christmas spirit in Wateringbury.

A group of motorists and youngsters off school rolled up their sleeves to shovel snow out of the way and push cars in Wateringbury this morning (Friday).

Dave Schofield, who works for a traffic management company, said: “It’s absolutely fantastic. I just stopped on my way to work, and I had some spare high vis jackets in the back of my car and a shovel, so we all got stuck in. It was absolute carnage on the roads as I was driving in.”

He added: “The people who live here have been coming out with cups of tea, and we’ve got some lads of 16 and 10 helping. It’s brilliant.”

Maidstone Council said no traffic wardens were working today and no tickets would be issued to those forced to leave their cars in an unauthorised location.

There are warnings of school closures.

• To find out if your child's school is closed, click on this link to the kmfm site

It comes after the Met Office predicted severe weather across the south east.

Further heavy snow showers are forecast for Kent today, with more showers expected over the weekend. A spokesman for the Met Office said day temperatures are not expected to rise much above freezing over the weekend, so snow is likely to accumulate.

Will the snow last until Christmas? The Met Office say there's a chance, but only if cold air over the country wins a forecasted "battle" with warm air from the south next week.

The odds on a White Christmas at Betfred in Maidstone High Street were 9/4, having come down from 11/2 at the end of November and 7/2 last week.