NO BUSES will run today (Thursday March 1) as the Wee County continues to deal with heavy snowfall.

Chiefs at operators First thanked customers for their patience and applauded staff who keep working in freezing conditions as the situation continues to develop.

Deep snow built up overnight in many locations with the Met Office warning soon to de-escalate to amber level from around 10am.

Schools and nurseries are closed in the Clackmannanshire area for the day and it is expected the council will decide whether they will re-open tomorrow (Friday, March 2) at around noon.

The DWP confirmed the JobCentre Plus in Alloa is closed until 12pm.

A spokesperson said: "Payments will still take place as normal, however all interviews at the affected sites will be re-scheduled."

The by-election in the Clackmannanshire North area is going ahead, the Advertiser understands the law doesn't allow a poll to be postponed due to the weather.

David Philips, First Scotland East operations director, explained he and his team continue to monitor road conditions.

He said: “The First Scotland East team have met again this morning and following a further assessment of the weather and road conditions around the network, there will be no services running today (Thursday, March 1, 2018).

“The safety of our staff and customers is of the utmost importance and as such this was the only decision that could be taken at this point. We will have a further update tomorrow morning at 6.30am on services for Friday.”

Earlier, David explained that even if services resumed, they would have been limited to key routes and main corridors.

The chief added: “I would like to thank customers for their patience at this juncture and also to pay tribute to our hard-working staff who went over and above the call of duty yesterday for our customers.”

A decision on whether to close schools in Clackmannanshire will be made in the next few hours.