SCHOOLS in Crow country are closing early today with more heavy snow set to hit the region.

Heavy flurries of snow are expected this afternoon, and as a result several schools have decided to close early to allow pupils to reach home safely.

- Barley First School is closing at noon

- Barkway First School is also closing at noon

- Reed First School is closing at 1pm.

- Roman Way School in Royston is open but pupils can be collected at 1.15pm if the weather worsens

On the trains, First Capital Connect (FCC) has put a series of measures in place to keep services running.

Empty carriages, dubbed by FCC as ‘ghost trains’, were runing on the Great Northern route services from Peterborough and Cambridge to London during the early hours of Friday.

Other plans include linking two trains together during service hours in case one fails and basing train engineers at key locations around the network.

A spokesman for FCC said: “We have prepared as much as pssible for the forecasted snow across England today, (Friday), and we will be working closely with Network Rail if we need a response to any issues with the track, power supply or signalling.

“However, disruption is likely and we strongly advise customers to allow more time for their journeys and to check before they travel at www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk or www.nationalrail.co.uk – we can also help people through our Twitter account @FirstCC which is manned 24/7.”