WHY does the country grind to a halt when an inch of snow falls?

The Tuesday morning drive into work was hellish, not only for me but for hundreds of motorists heading in to the town from all directions.

The roads were grid locked in places. I had a horror drive down the M61 through Chequerbent, Daisy Hill and Atherton. Even Atherleigh Way was a queuing nightmare.

Other horror reports came from Astley Street, Princes Street and Chaddock Lane, Astley, and I'm just glad I wasn't in the long queues heading towards Bolton

What I can't understand is why drivers are sitting jammed bumper to bumper up to a certain point then everything mysteriously vanishes and the road ahead clears.

I used to feel sorry for southerners having to cope with daily rush hour blues and wrongly believed we would never suffer the same fate. Sadly we're catching up. Traffic is multiplying fast and each day's journey becomes more frustrating.

But I cannot comprehend why when there's a light covering of snow everything goes to pot. A lot of it must be put down to poor driving.