SO we're snowed under. With phone calls, emails, and letters that is.

The moment the flakes starting falling last Friday afternoon, I knew this week - the week of our combined Christmas Champion - was going to be a busy one. The only thing I didn't know was just how busy.

Trying to condense dozens of phone calls and emails from angry residents furious with a lack of gritting where they lived, press statements from local authorities doing their best to explain why and updates on a public transport system crippled by the cold conditions into just 700 words is pretty much impossible. But I tried anyway.

Everyone's got their own story of how they've been affected by the snow and ice, but among the worst cases we've heard are:

* Milk deliveries in Parbold being carried out by tractor, due to the roads being impassable for milk floats

* Taxi drivers in Skelmersdale being forced to abandon their routes over the weekend for health and safety reasons, losing around £500 each in the process

* Ormskirk's traditional market being reduced to a single stall last Saturday due to traders not being able to make it into the town centre

* Crosby recording temperatures as low as -17 degrees celsius over the weekend

* Traffic in Crossens, on the outskirts of Southport, grinding to a halt after a Sainsbury's delivery lorry lost control and skidded near the Plough roundabout

* Police officers in Ormskirk digging the snow to enable elderly and disabled residents trapped by heavy snowfall to leave their homes safely

* Major train disruptions on the Merseyrail network, including a train fire in Freshfield on the Northern Line

* Ongoing cancellations of Arriva's bus services in parts of Sefton and West Lancashire

But despite the best efforts of the politicians, the local councils and the public transport companies the real stars we've seen so far are in fact you, the readers. For every story from a resident infuriated about how bad the situation's been, we've heard another from stricken residents who've had their bacon saved by kind-hearted neighbours.

And you've sent us all your pictures in, just to let us know what Sefton and West Lancashire looks like. If you believe in the old adage of every picture says a thousand words, just click the link above and see just some of the scores of pictures we've been sent in.

For keeping us in the loop, we can't thank you enough.

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