THE first few flakes didn't look too promising - but within hours it was deep and crisp and even across the borough.For some youngsters it meant an early start to the festive break as schools, including Ormesby Junior, lost power and heating.

THE first few flakes didn't look too promising - but within hours it was deep and crisp and even across the borough.

For some youngsters it meant an early start to the festive break as schools, including Ormesby Junior, lost power and heating. Snowmen with stick arms and carrot noses sprung up in gardens and parks, their longevity preserved by temperatures as low as minus three raising the possibility of some lingering whiteness for Christmas Day.

Motorists had reportedly heeded warnings about safe driving but icy pavements and safety messages about unnecessary journeys kept people at home and away from the shops giving retailers a poor week when they should have been coping with a last minute rush.

Meanwhile the pretty Christmas card scenes caused havoc for Anglian Water engineers called out to a water main burst on Sunday in Ormesby St Margaret and for EDF energy engineers struggling to restore power to thousands of homes in the northern parishes on Thursday and Friday.

And on Monday refuse collections across the borough were suspended because of the poor weather conditions. A spokesman for GYB Services said crews that would normally have picked up green recycling bins on Tuesday were diverted to black bins as a priority.

She added: “The weight of a dust cart means that if it slips you cannot stop it and it can mount a pavement. We are down the back roads and we have quite a struggle to get out of the depot. We do not get gritted or own any gritters and Estcourt Road has cars parked all along it.

“We will always endeavour to get the black bins collected and it is better that it happens this side of Christmas when people don't have quite as much waste.”

A spokesman for James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “The number of fractures and dislocations relating to slips and trips caused by the cold weather over the last three days and dealt with by A&E is well above average.

“We advise people to only go out if it is essential and to be mindful of ice during the current adverse weather.”

The average daily attendance in A&E for December is up by around 10pc - and November was the busiest month on record for emergency admissions prompting a plea to patients with minor conditions to seek treatment community by a GP or pharmacist.

Emma Sharples, forecaster at the University of East Anglia-based Weatherquest said Great Yarmouth had seen its last snow fall but with temperatures remaining low what had already fallen could remain for a while.

She said Christmas Day would be dry and cold with some brightness.