Traffic Chaos, Stranded Workers, Empty Stores, School Closures, the list goes on and it is claimed that the cold weather has cost the UK economy hundreds of millions of pounds. Many organisations claim that the cold spell has cost the UK economy dear, in lost working days, delayed transport and late deliveries.

The cost of a single day of employee absenteeism because of the freezing winter conditions could be at least £230 million according to The Forum of Private Business (FPB). The Federation of Small Businesses estimates the bad weather as costing the economy at least £600m a day and The Centre for Economic and Business Research says it is as high as £900m a day.

Losing a key member of staff even for just 1 day can be very damaging at any time let alone in the current economic climate. There has been speculation about employers providing facilities to work from home but obviously for most businesses, this is not possible.

At one stage, a fifth of the country's workforce failed to make it into their workplace. Transport Links were crippled accounting for millions of staff not being able to get to work. Satnav experts Tom Tom had one traffic jam measuring 32 miles long on the M25 as well as 1000 miles of tail backs across the UK. There were 200 Schools closed which had a knock on effect of parents having to stay at home meaning more staff could not go to work even if they could physically get there.

In many other cases, much of the lost business will be regained in later days and weeks. So while sales may drop for a short period, the business may be busier than normal in the following weeks. So there is an argument that it is not necessarily a bad thing for the economy. Smaller companies could suffer quite badly because a lot of small businesses are already on the brink due to the recession.

Electrastar have had no problems getting around their sites across the UK to such places as London, Bristol and Newcastle and it has been business as usual. However, some jobs had to be cancelled or put back because some sites were not fully staffed or the key client could not get in.

On the other side of the story, the snow has also been good for the economy.

Councils have been procuring rock salt to grit roads and paths. Much of it comes from mines located in Cheshire, Teesside and County Antrim. Any vehicles involved in accidents need to be repaired or replaced at some stage. Sales of anything that is related to the weather such as sledges, warm clothing, soup, gloves and duvets are all up.

It is a paradox that extra spending creates more debt for households but the extra spend is good for the economy as a whole.