Over 4,000 trucks were forced to park west of Paris in France on Wednesday as a snow and sleet storm caused a ban on lorry travel in the region.

The heavy winter storm forced French road authorities to issue a ban against heavy commercial road traffic from midnight until noon in eight departments around Paris.

The storm formed 3-5cm of snow across the north of the country and it was feared that it could turn to sleet.

In addition, nearly 58 departments in northern and central France have been placed under an orange alert by Meteo France, which is expecting treacherous travel conditions due to the icy sleet.