B&Q reported sales of shovels were up 450% this week on the previous seven days as the country battled against snow and ice.
Of the major firms, including B&Q, Wickes, Homebase and Focus DIY, most reported trading had continued largely as normal.

However, most said it was too soon to talk about figures and said staff were working hard to keep stores open.

But B&Q, as well as reporting the huge rise in shovels, also reported sales of winter grit up 8%, welly sales rising 13% and bird feeders and feed increasing by 12%.

Smaller firms also had to battle against the weather with deliveries not getting through and worries about staff being safe.

Kevin Hubbard managing director of east London based Industrial Tool Supplies said his business was hit by the carries not being able to complete deliveries.

He said: "Things like that are out of our control, so we dedicated half of our office team to calling customers to let them know that, although we'd be trying as much as we can, deliveries might not get through on Monday."

"It's just a nice thing to do so they're not waiting in all day for a something that may not arrive, and our customers really did appreciate it."

On the plus side Mr Hubbard said he hoped the tradesmen who had the day off because of the bad weather would have had the chance to sit down and look through his latest catalogue and place some orders.

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