TRAFFIC ground to a halt on many of the regions major roads and motorways as commuters struggled to cope with the flurries which fell right on the morning rush hour.

Motorists reported journeys which would normally take minutes lasting hours.
The Grane Road had to be shut because of the treacherous conditions, with people travelling on the M66 and A56 reporting stranded cars and vehicles queuing nose to tail.

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A car overturned in Red Lees Road, in Cliviger, shortly after 7am in an accident involving two vehicles. The road had to be shut until recovery could be arranged and traffic backed up along Glen View Road. 

Lancashire Telegraph: Officers were also forced to shut Long Causeway from the West Yorkshire side for several hours until the highway was cleared.

In Bacup town centre, a blue Fiesta smashed into a phone box in Market Street and on the A582 in Rawtenstall, a lorry crashed into some traffic lights causing serious disruption.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Throughout the morning Insp Des Barr said they had 19 road traffic collisions reported to them from across East Lancashire.

He said: "Any injuries were very, very minor."

 

A number of schools were forced to close because of the conditions including:

  • St Mary's College, Blackburn, 
  • Green Haworth Church of England Primary School, 
  • St Oswald's Roman Catholic Primary School, Accrington,
  • Hendon Brook School,
  • Mount Carmel RC High,
  • Reedley Primary School,
  • Alder Grange High School,
  • Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School, Bacup
  • Britannia Community Primary School,
  • Northern Primary School,
  • Tor View Community Special School,
  • Whitworth Community High School and
  • Whitworth Tonacliffe Primary School.

View the list of schools HERE...

Blackburn with Darwen closures HERE...

Lancashire County and Blackburn with Darwen councils both had gritters out yesterday in preparation for icy conditions.

More snow showers are forecast for later today, particularly over higher ground to the East of the county and the Yorkshire border.