Motorists and bus passengers in Keighley suffered hours of misery when snow showers brought the town centre and other roads in the area to a standstill.

Snow began to fall during Monday afternoon, causing many workers to leave early. Combined with school traffic, this resulted in many tailbacks.

Traffic in particular built up in the town centre and on the A629, as far out as Cross Roads, from 3pm.

The A650 Aire Valley Road and Oakworth Road, were also extremely busy.

Roads in Cullingworth and Denholme were treacherous, with steep roads covered in black ice.

Some readers contacted the Keighley News to complain that there were no gritters from Monday afternoon until Tuesday morning. Consequently, slush and ice formed on the roads making driving difficult.

Michelle Corcoran said traffic on Halifax Road, where she lives, built up after a van was abandoned near to Ingrow Bridge.

She said: "Within a short while a car and lorry were also abandoned forming a bottleneck that was only passable by one vehicle at a time, using a slushy icy path."

The road finally became clear after 8.30pm, once some drivers had turned their vehicles around or abandoned them.

She added: "I realise a gritting wagon would have had difficulty, but on Tuesday morning small pavement tractors were used. Were these not available on Monday night?"

A Bradford Council highways spokesman said the gritters were doing everything they could.

He said: "Since Monday night we have been gritting the district's highways to ensure traffic flows as freely as possible.

"Our gritters worked throughout Monday night to keep roads clear, and on Tuesday 32 vehicles were busy gritting main routes in the district."

This was due to continue as necessary, he added.

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, executive member for the environment, promised Bradford Council would carry out an investigation to see what could be done to prevent a repeat of the misery.

Keighley & District Travel operations director Dave Alexander said its bus services had been severely affected.

Many buses on routes to the west and south of Keighley became trapped on steep slopes and narrow estate roads. Because of this and the build up of traffic on Oakworth Road and Halifax Road, Mr Alexander said they ran out of buses for services.

He said: "Staff with 30 years service could not remember a previous occasion where conditions became so bad, so quickly.

"Our top priority was the yellow school charter buses and we ensured that all schools were covered and that no students were left stranded.

"Some of the yellow school buses were up to two-and-a-half hours late, but they did all reach their destinations and we have had many parents ring in to thank us for that service."

Mr Alexander paid tribute to his staff, some of whom voluntarily worked well beyond their normal shifts.

He added: "One driver found a customer with learning difficulties very distressed in the bus station because he could not find his way home and took him home in his own car."

And he said services on low-lying routes to Leeds and Bradford were still badly affected on Tuesday morning.

Keighley traffic police reported that although there were a number of minor shunts, there had been no serious accidents.