THE first blast of winter snow brought chaos to roads across East Lancashire today as commuters struggled to work.

Police described driving conditions as treacherous and several schools across the district closed for the day.

A double-decker bus got stuck close to Darwen Leisure Centre and a minor accident in Hardman Way, Darwen, added to the chaos.

Roadworks on the A666 combined with the snow to cause virtual traffic gridlock in Darwen with Blackburn-bound traffic queuing from Bull Hill.

Rail commuters travelling between Manchester Victoria and Clitheroe faced delays when points froze at Darwen Station.

A spokesman for North Western Trains said: "Because it is a single line track between Blackburn and Bromley Cross two trains, both north and southbound couldn't get through, which resulted in delays.

"The passengers were eventually forced to swap trains and taken back to where they came from after the Railtrack engineer sent to deal with the problem got stuck in traffic on the M65."

Blackburn with Darwen Council received a snow warning yesterday and put gritters on stand-by. A spokeswoman said: "Gritters were out as soon as the snow started. The problem we have had is that the snow continued to fall, covering the newly laid grit, which had not had a chance to become effective because of the lack of traffic.

"We still have five gritters out continuing to try and free up all the major routes."

Forecasters said East Lancashire bore the brunt of the winter Weather, but were predicting the snow would clear later.

Heavy snow started falling at around 5am and about three to four inches covered roads across the area.

Scores of minor accidents were reported, but most of the major routes stayed open.

Hardest hit was the Grane Road and the A56 Accrington bypass which was described as dangerous by police. The dual carriageway was down to one lane and traffic in places slowed to a crawl.

Slip roads on the M65 were hazardous and the motorway was down to one lane in some sections.

A Lancashire Police spokesman said: "As far as we are aware there have been no road closures, but conditions are treacherous.

"The worst of the weather was in East Lancashire, but we were expecting the situation to ease." A spokesman for the Manchester Weather Centre said: "The heaviest snowfalls were in the hilly areas of East Lancashire between 5am and 7am. "But the weather was due to improve by mid to late morning with showers and sunny spells."

A spokeswoman for Clitheroe Police said roads in outlying Ribble Valley villages had a covering of snow and were starting to freeze.

She said: "So far there have been no accidents, but we are warning local motorists to take it very easy."

Several schools in the area decided to close including Blackamoor, and Broadlands schools in Blackburn and Calder View and Westway special schools in Burnley, Sudell Primary and Tockholes primary

Others to close included St James' Primary, Blackburn, Haslingden St James' Primary School, Staghills School in Newchurch, Hillside Nursery, Haslingden and Hawthorn Junior School, Blackburn and Tullyallan, Sudell and Tockholes primary schools.

Walshaw High School in Burnley and Alder Grange in Rossendale were closed this morning but hoping to reopen at lunchtime.

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