M27 juction eight became a parking lot due to heavy snow

Roads across the county were strewn with empty vehicles after motorists were forced to give up their journeys.

Hundreds of cars were left abandoned around Hedge End and junction eight of the M27 in chaotic scenes.

Local resident Dave Jones, 46, said queues began building up as the snow come down around 6.30pm.

“It was absolute chaos”, he said.

He said 45 cars were abandoned in Pylands Lane alone while the mile and a half drive to Hedge End along Dodwell Lane became a parking lot.

One tyre fitter returned to retrieve his van this morning but could not budge it from a snowy rut.

Mark Dixon, 20, said: “Hamble Lane was closed so I just had to abandon it and walked home to Netley. It took me about an hour.”

Another stranded driver stripped off into his running gear and jogged 10 miles home to Lock’s Heath after quitting his three-hour journey from Portsmouth.

Student Jamie Garvie, 22, said: “It was mad. There were cars everywhere. A couple of police cars tried to get through but they couldn’t get through. The main cause was the density of traffic.”

He returned to the junction this morning to find what looked like impromptu immobilisers made of huge snowballs around his car. It turned out to be local friends playing a prank.

Up to 12 inches (30cm) of snow fell throughout the county last night.

Elsewhere up to 1,000 drivers were stranded overnight on the A3 in Hampshire in heavy snow falls.

Many motorists were forced to spend the night in their cars as the road was brought to a standstill. Sections were closed this morning.

Emergency services were drafting in the military to help rescue some drivers who have been trapped for up to 12 hours.

The road ground to a halt at about 7pm trapping drivers near Petersfield.

Between 600 to 1,000 vehicles were caught up in an eight to nine mile tailback the road