A highly-skilled team of volunteers are back on stand-by today after spending some seven hours rescuing motorists trapped in the snow across the county last night.

Some 30 members from South East 4x4 Response, which works in extreme weather to support other emergency and council services when they are at fully capacity or unable to reach certain areas, were deployed by police at around 7pm to help clear roads that were most affected.

Teams were mainly working on Blue Bell Hill, near Maidstone, but also had responders out in Detling Hill, Staplehurst and on the A21 as many drivers had to abandon their vehicles and find alternative ways to get home.

Alan Moles, from South East 4x4 Response, said: "We finished at around 2am so haven't had a lot of sleep.

"This morning it looks like the snow has started melting, so we've been stood down, but the responders are still on standby.

"There's a chance of a bit more snow, and as the conditions get colder, maybe some of it turns to ice, so we are ready to deploy if needed.

"Last night our members were mainly trying to get vehicles moving - a lot of them were pushing or towing cars or giving assistance to members of the public who had broken down with flat batteries, or had difficulties with their cars getting enough traction to get moving.

"We were also working with Kent Police to put in place road blockages so we could get gritters through and everyone did a fantastic job as we tried to get heavy vehicles like buses and lorries moving so they were out of the main roads."