SNOWFALL brought roads around Queensbury and Denholme to a standstill today, with transport bosses accused of not doing enough to grit key routes.

Residents and councillors have now called for more to be done to keep people moving on the higher ground, but Bradford Council has defended its decision not to send gritters out until 7.30am.

Scott Greenwood, a teacher from Denholme, said: "Once again there is traffic chaos on high ground again due to the council's shambolic gritting policy."

He said gridlock in snowy weather was nothing new, and that on more than on occasion, his wife Rebecca had had to abandon her car in the roads around Denholme.

He said: "It would appear their policy is to wait until after the snow has fallen and the traffic has backed up and they can no longer grit as there is no room. This happens year on year.

"The grit pile is in Denholme so it seems a bit ironic to constantly be crawling past it and seeing no action going on there. It's time the council answered for why it lets its council tax payers that live on high ground suffer each time it snows."

Queensbury ward councillor Michael Walls (Con) said he had emailed transport bosses to complain about the state of the roads this morning.

He said: "It was snowing at 5 o'clock this morning and it carried on snowing quite heavily so by 8 o'clock the roads had quite a good covering, about an inch or so, and they were quite slippery."

But Cllr Walls, who lives on a gritting route, said he didn't see the first gritters until about 10.30am, by which point the snow was melting.

A spokesman for Bradford Council said snow hadn't been expected in the area, and that the congestion had been compounded by roadworks.

She said: "The forecast from the Met Office was for patchy and light rain during the evening and overnight which would become heavier in to the early morning turning to sleet and snow with slushy accumulations above 400 metres.

"As the areas of Denholme and Queensbury are between 250 metres and 300 metres, the decision was taken not to send gritting crews out.

"As it became clear that snow was falling in these areas, we sent gritters out at 7.30am.

"The problems this morning were compounded by temporary traffic lights for roadworks and a car stopped across the main road outside Keelham Primary School.

"We have 26 gritters that grit over 62 per cent of the districts road network covering over 700 miles. This over the national average of 45 per cent and above coverage in other local areas."