Bookmakers plunged into deep midwinter

Bookmakers were expecting to shell out hundreds of thousands of pounds yesterday after snow fell across much of the UK on Christmas Day.

Winning punters were celebrating their hefty Christmas bonuses as the Met Office confirmed it was a white Christmas in large parts of the country.

There was snow in five of the six locations for which bookmakers had been taking bets - in Aberdeen, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester. Only London stayed completely snow-free.

Warren Lush, of Ladbrokes, said: "It's a winter wonderland for punters, while bookmakers have been thrown into the deep midwinter."