FROZEN snow on an ungritted rural lane between Denholme and Thornton has caused “carnage,” angering residents trapped in their homes.

Sarah Stead, who lives Wheelrace Cottages down a track on a steep S bend on Whalley Lane, said one car had skidded off the treacherous road and another had piled into it.

Ms Stead said a line of at least ten other vehicles were stuck with a Royal Mail van and a Morrisons delivery van among them.

“Drivers have given up. They daredn’t go any further. It’s just sheet ice. It’s absolute carnage. I tried to get out this morning but had to come back in. It’s not safe.

“The council should have gritted it. I’m pretty angry about it. Because of where we are we do get neglected but I’ve never seen it as bad as this. I’ve spoken to a neighbour who said they haven’t seen it so bad since 1978 but if I knew it was going to snow last night then so did the Council.

“There’s no traction on the road at all. Everyone’s been skidding.”

Snow settled in parts of Bradford overnight on Thursday for the first time this winter.

The morning rush hour was largely unaffected but the Met Office has predicting blizzards to hit the district.

Heavy snow is now forecast to start at around 9am on Sunday and continue through the morning, with lighter snow through the afternoon and a top temperature of just 1°C meaning any settled snow is unlikely to shift before Monday’s rush hour.

The band of wintry weather is predicted to hit a swathe of central Britain stretching from just outside London to the Scottish borders throughout Sunday, and a yellow warning of snow and ice is in place.

Dave Mazurke, Principal Engineer, Bradford Council, said night patrols were out checking problem areas and high ground from 8pm on Thursday.

He said all of the council’s 24 gritters were sent out to treat the network which continued until 7am today (Friday).

“Twenty gritters stayed out until lunchtime gritting minor roads off the priority one network. Footpath teams worked from 5am to noon today.

“Tonight our drivers will be working around the clock in shifts starting with night patrols of high ground and known trouble spots.

“Currently, the roads have a good covering of grit and we will review this on Saturday morning.

“Managers will constantly monitor the weather situation and crews will be on standby and will respond as conditions develop.”

Bradford Council’s priority one network covers high volume highways and roads to schools, hospitals, isolated communities and ambulance, police and fire stations. These are the roads the council grits first.

Once the priority one routes are treated, the authority’s highways service starts gritting lower priority roads such as side roads and lanes.

People can see the latest Twitter updates and useful information including routes, school closures, train and travel alerts by visiting https://www.bradford.gov.uk/winter