© ReutersFlights cancelled ... planes sit on the tarmac at Gatwick Airport
British insurer RSA warned that bad weather in the run up to Christmas would have a major impact on the economy and could lead to significant losses for struggling businesses.
"This cold front couldn't come at a worse time for the UK," said David Greaves, director of RSA.
"If we lose just one fifth of our daily GDP through companies not being able to open and people cancelling spending plans on events and shopping, we're looking at about £1.2 billion every working day," he said.
In Scotland, Edinburgh airport was closed because of heavy snow showers. London's smaller City airport said its runway was operating, but some flights had been cancelled.
Oil giant BP said the weather had "severely impacted" its deliveries to more than 100 petrol stations across Scotland and that it would only carry out safe and essential deliveries from its Grangemouth terminal near Edinburgh.
Police in the southern countries of Kent and Surrey advised motorists not to travel unless their journey was absolutely essential, with severe delays reported on the M25 London orbital motorway which passes through the counties.
Much of Britain has been blanketed with heavy snow, with bitter winds adding to the misery.
"Due to severe weather conditions, there are currently no departing and arriving flights at Gatwick," the airport said in a statement on its website.
"The runway will remain closed until at least 06:00 Thursday," it added.
The snow also caused severe delays on roads and rail lines up and down Britain.
The Highways Agency said there were delays on the busy M1 motorway in the East Midlands and on the A1 near the Yorkshire town of Catterick.
Eurostar rail services between London and continental Europe were suffering delays of up to 30 minutes.
Britain, which last year shivered through its coldest winter in 30 years, has not seen such widespread early snowfall since 1993.
There was no immediate sign of a thaw, with further heavy snow forecast on Thursday in eastern Scotland and eastern, central and southern England.
"The snow has arrived and so have the long list of excuses as to why employees are late into the office," said Peter Done, managing director of employment law consultancy Peninsula, which found that more than half of Britons were late for work on Wednesday.
"Given that the adverse weather conditions are causing huge delays across the road and transport networks, it would be very unfair if an employer decided to dock pay from staff who failed to make it in," said Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress.
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