EAST Lancashire’s roads were thrown into chaos yesterday - despite just one inch of snow falling.

Experts said drivers the lacked the experience to cope with wintry conditions.

Gritting was not thought to be an issue on the main motorway routes.

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One driving specialist said that drivers had exercised ‘too much caution’ - producing a concertina effect on the M65.

However, an RAC spokesman said it was important that drivers did reduce their speed in icy conditions.

Meanwhile, some motorists complained that roads within Blackburn did not appear to have been gritted. However the council insisted that major roads in the town had been treated.

The tailbacks were felt hardest around Blackburn and junction eight of the M65, but could be felt as far away as the M6, M61 and M66.

Queues spilled over into nearby towns including Rishton, Accrington and Padiham where some roads were also reported as being difficult.

Ambulances were forced to use the snow-covered hard shoulder of the M65, where a broken down heavy goods vehicle at junction five also added to the mayhem.

Some of the motorway’s main feeder routes, including Haslingden Road, Shadsworth Road and Whitebirk Road, descended into chaos as cars slid along the roads.

The snowfall, which began around 7am, prompted chaos on town roads for more than four hours as collisions and broken down vehicles led to bumper-to-bumper queues.

The Highways Agency, which is responsible for maintaining the M66 and junctions one to 10 of the M65, said it had gritted the roads at 10pm on Tuesday and 3am yesterday.

Spokesman Neil Sterio said: “We liaise with the Met Office and keep a close eye on changes in temperature. We were out in the early hours of the morning, but gritting is not a perfect science.

“We expect drivers to check the weather. We had a warning in place from 10pm on Tuesday until midday on Wednesday.

“We had a few showers that can affect the ability of the gritting. The only incident on the motorways was a broken down lorry, with no collisions.”

Lancashire County Council, which maintains the M65 from junction 10 to 14, said all priority routes were gritted on Tuesday afternoon and monitored overnight.

Allan Whipp, course co-ordinator at the East Lancashire Institute of Advanced Motoring, said drivers had to shoulder some of the responsibility for the tailbacks.

He said: “All it takes is one or two nervous people and that can have a massive knock-on effect. I have always said that there should be an option in the driving test, so that if people want to they can practise driving and braking in skiddy conditions.

“Even when it’s just a little snow like we’ve just seen, people think: ‘Oh my goodness’, and start to panic.

“Simple things like setting aside more time would have made a difference. We’ve known about this weather for days, you can’t just wake up and expect to be the only person using the motorway.”

Simon Williams, from the RAC, said the situation seen yesterday was ‘uncommon’ given the absence of collisions on the motorway.

He said: “I think the problem is that really we just have so little snow we don’t know how to cope with it from a driving perspective. I think it’s right that drivers are taking caution. I’d rather they were slow and safe than the opposite.

“We would urge everyone to take extra caution and reduce their speed, even then traffic should still move.

“Such slow traffic, however, is not something we commonly see. The most common cause of queues is the concertina effect, where people brake one after another and it backs up right along the motorway.”

Among the advice he issued for driving in wintry conditions was: l Leaving as much as 10 times the normal recommended gap between you and the car in front; l If you encounter a skid, steer gently into it. Do not take your hands off the wheel or stamp your foot on the brakes; l If the road has not been gritted, be wary of driving in the wheel tracks or other vehicles, as compressed snow is likely to be icy.

Sgt John Jennings, from Lancashire police’s Eastern road policing unit, said heavy traffic on the motorways was preferable to accidents and injuries.

He said: “In certain areas of the M65, there was only one lane in use.”People were not using lanes two and three. Off the motorways, there were several collisions in Blackburn where conditions were icy.

“I would say to people to plan well ahead, even get up earlier and park your car somewhere where it’s more likely to have been gritted.

One driver, who spent almost three hours getting from Newchurch-in-Pendle to Bolton, blasted the treatment of the M65.

Lecturer Chris Johnson, 63, said: “This is a main ambulance route, between the hospitals in Burnley and Blackburn, and this morning it was like a sheet of ice in places. What on earth is going on?

“People were slipping and sliding all over the place. I was sat on the motorway for more than two hours, and not a single gritter was in sight.”

A county council spokesman said: “As further showers of sleet and snow were expected, all routes were gritted overnight, including those already treated earlier in the day. “