Heavy snow and freezing rain in Scotland and northern England has disrupted court trials and Covid vaccination appointments. Amid warnings that a “Beast from the East 2” could hit the UK next week, the Met Office issued an amber snow warning for parts of Scotland and north-east England overnight, with up to 11cm falling in the Perth and Kinross area, 5cm in Cumbria, and large accumulations in other parts of northern England. A yellow snow and ice warning has been issued for Saturday, covering large parts of Scotland and northern and central England. Hospital bosses have advised older people not to visit Newcastle’s Centre for Life mass vaccination hub because of the conditions, and to rebook their appointments. Newcastle upon Tyne NHS hospitals foundation trust tweeted: “It’s easy to do by calling 119. No need to risk travelling in the bad weather.” The rest of England is expected to experience heavy rain, particularly London and the south-east, while Wales and Northern Ireland are predicted to stay mostly dry. Temperatures fell as low as -5.5C in North Yorkshire on Thursday morning and -6.4C in Dalwhinnie in the Highlands. The Met Office chief meteorologist, Paul Gundersen, said: “There is cold air from the north pushing down the east side of the UK and warm air moving in from the west. Where these two air masses meet a weather front is bringing some heavy rain, which is turning to snow in places.” The trial of Pawel Relowicz, accused of raping and murdering the Hull student Libby Squire, will not go ahead as planned on Thursday after snowfall in South Yorkshire that meant three jurors were unable to get to Sheffield crown court on time. Mrs Justice Lambert told the jurors who did arrive: “I’m sorry and have a safe journey home. Unless you hear anything on the contrary, please return to court tomorrow.” A Met Office spokeswoman said the unsettled conditions were likely to last into next week, and she urged people to be alert for additional warnings. “We’ve seen snow leave the M62 Yorkshire area and journeying now into the Vales of Yorkshire,” she said. “It will push further south as we go through the day, likely to go down to the Midlands but becoming less intense. “When we go into tomorrow there may well be an ice warning issued; we are certainly looking at some potential for frost. With the temperatures warming up through the day there’s potential the snow starts melting. If it freezes overnight there’s a chance of frost and ice tomorrow morning.”