BOLTON Council says it did grit roads prior to heavy snowfall during night.

A spokesperson said: "Bolton Council deployed gritters to the road network at 8pm yesterday and again at 3am today, however there was heavy snow across the region at around 5am. Snow ploughs then went out at 6am."

"Gritting is not effective unless there is some traffic to mix it in with the snow and ice.

"Given the volume of the snow that fell and the low traffic flows in the early morning, it has taken some time for the effects of the gritting and ploughing to take effect.

"Refuse collections are unlikely to take place today.

"Maximum resources are working across the borough to resolve the issues as quickly as possible."