A Ryanair plane slid off the runway after landing at a Scottish airport yesterday and two people were killed in a coach crash in western England as snow and ice made travelling hazardous.

Cross-Channel rail operator Eurostar said its trains running from London were all full after a three-day stoppage and appealed to passengers not to join the hundreds of people queuing at St Pancras International station.

Eurostar said it remained confident that everyone wanting to travel before Christmas would be able to do so.

Ryanair, the Irish budget airline, said all the 123 passengers and six crew on the flight from Dublin to Prestwick airport, close to Glasgow, were safe after the incident.

"After a normal landing was completed and while taxiing from the runway the aircraft encountered ice and slid just off the runway on to the grass verge," Ryanair said in a statement.

Two Britons were killed and 47 others were injured when a coach overturned on an icy road in Cornwall in western England on Tuesday, police said yesterday.

The victims, who were from the region, were returning from a day trip to see the Christmas lights in the Cornish fishing village of Mousehole. Britain has been hit by severe winter weather in recent days, putting huge strain on the transport network in the pre-Christmas rush.

Eurostar is clearing a backlog of passengers stranded after trains failed over the weekend, leaving 2,500 people trapped for up to 16 hours in the under-sea Channel Tunnel with no power, air conditioning, food or water.

Services resumed on Tuesday but the company has said a full timetable will not be in operation until after Christmas.

It was running about two-thirds of normal capacity yesterday and said that anyone now wanting to travel should wait until this evening before trying to get on board.

Eurostar, its reputation tarnished by the chaos, has said the trains suffered electrical failure caused by condensation when moving from cold air in northern France into the warmer tunnel.