FRUSTRATED commuters faced road and rail chaos this morning as snow and sleet brought mayhem to the area.

The problems occurred despite Bolton Council's new state of the art gritters working through the night laying up to three layers of salt.

Large tail backs and long delays were reported especially in Westhoughton and Bromley Cross as drivers set off early to get to work.

But despite several vehicles breaking down or being abandoned by the side of the road, including a lorry stuck in snow on Crown Lane, Horwich, at the time the BEN went to press there were no reports of any accidents.

Early railway passengers found trains at Lostock, Chorley, Adlington and Blackrod did not arrive after points froze at Euxton Junction and trains had to be diverted to Bolton via Wigan, although First North Western trains said the problem was solved and normal service resumed by 8am.

Salt

Jeff Layer, Bolton's head of environmental management, said problems early motorists were experiencing were not due to lack of salt on the roads.

"People have to realise that salt on the road alone will not stop snow sticking," he said.

He added that it also takes the action of wheels on the road surface to turn the snow to slush and believed that drivers setting off later would not experience the same delays as their earlier colleagues.

The council's fleet of 10 new gritters began laying salt on the road at 6pm last night and were able to use the borough's state of the art drive in hopper for the first time to reload quickly.

"All major routes have been gritted at least twice and radial routes three times," said Mr Layer, who added that it is now taking less than half the time it used to to grit the same stretches of road.

"I am pleased with the way it has gone although I do appreciate it has been a little bit more difficult for some motorists," he said.

The snow was expected to change to rain throughout today and weather forecasts for the rest of the week predict warmer night time temperatures meaning it is unlikely the gritters will be needed again in the near future.

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