The town was blanketed by six inches of snow on Tuesday as temperatures plummeted to minus four degrees.

And the freakish icy weather now looks set to continue into the weekend.

On Tuesday several vehicles were abandoned and an articulated lorry got stuck on the A57 at The Baulk in North Anston.

A school bus on the way to Wales High also had to let passengers off in Anston, leaving some facing long walks home.

Insp Richard Scholey, of the Rother Valley South Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: "There were lots of minor bumps, but The Baulk was the worst affected. A tractor driver eventually offered to tow the lorry."

"We also received lots of calls about snowballs and have had to prioritise which incidents we attend."

"We all threw snowballs when we were young, although it seems some people have been putting stones inside them and harassing people."

THE cold snap has disrupted residents' normal routines in various other ways.

Some shops ran out of bread, milk and other supplies on Tuesday, while many housing estates were turned into ice rinks.

Meanwhile, children enjoyed their time off school by sledging and building snowmen at Pit Tip.

Among the schools to have suffered closures this week were St Joseph's Nursery, Dinnington; Wales Primary; Whiston Primary; Wickersley School and Sports College; Willow Special School, Thurcroft; Clifton Community Art School; Hilltop Special School and Maltby and Lillehall Junior School, Maltby.

Gritters have been out every day in the area since 17th December, with lorries doing up to six runs in 24 hours.

Rotheram Borough Council spokesman Anne Todd said: "It has been an unusually long period of bad weather, but we are coping well."

"Our supplies of grit are still good – we took delivery of another 200 tonnes of grit this week."