BUILDINGS across Bolton were damaged and motorways gridlocked after high winds and snow battered the region.

In the most serious incident the front wall of a building at the corner of St George’s Road and Duke Street, Bolton, partly collapsed yesterday morning.

And a woman and her two children had a narrow escape when a tree fell on to their vehicle.

Bolton Council officers were alerted to the damaged building just before 8am after being contacted by passer-bys.

Work is now being carried out to clear the debris and repair the damage. And council staff were called out to Horwich after high winds brought down signs on the Age Concern shop in Leigh Lane at around 8pm on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the council said: “The council were called to Age Concern and the sign was moved into the shop.

“We contacted the owner of the building on the corner of St George’s Road and they got in touch with a contractor to make the building safe.”

The council was also clearing away six trees which topped in the high winds and a number of fallen branches.

In Bury, the mum and her two children had a lucky escape when a large tree fell on to the bonnet of their car as they drove along Hamilton Street.

The woman's husband, who was travelling behind them, helped to get his family out of the vehicle.

Fire service watch manager Pete Fletcher said: “We were carrying out a home safety check in the nearby area when we got the call. It was a large tree, weighing three tonnes at least.

“They were lucky, because had it been a few seconds sooner the tree would have fallen in the middle of the car and we could have been dealing with fatalities.”

Rush-hour commuters in the region faced long delays after snow and sleet caused disruption on the motorways.

The M62 was closed between junctions 21 and 22, Oldham to Milnrow, due to stranded HGVs obstructing the carriageway.

And motorists faced long delays as traffic built up on the M60 as far back as Worsley.

As the Arctic front bore down on the UK, the Met Office issued severe warnings for parts of northern England.

The weather is in stark contrast to the hot, summer-type temperatures of a just a few days ago. Temperatures are set to rise in the coming days, with a mixture of showers and sunshine forecast.