Council chiefs today started an inquiry into why snow flurries brought gridlock chaos to many of the district's roads last night.

Bradford Council insisted its squadron of gritters was working overtime, but thousands of frustrated motorists faced huge delays on normally-short journeys.

Traffic jams began forming before 4pm as snow flurries prompted many workers to leave early.

Motorists reported taking more than two hours to travel from Bradford to Saltaire and four hours from Bradford to Oxenhope.

In Thornton Road, Thornton, many commuters abandoned their vehicles and decided to complete their journey on foot.

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

She said the weather conditions plus the effect of roadworks and fears following problems suffered in the south of England last week had contributed to the chaos. "It is always easy to get the stick out and blame the Council and the workmen but I am convinced they did what they could and the gritters were out in force," she said.

"However, today we will be looking into what factors played a part and see if anything could be done differently at another time."

Black ice caused hazardous driving conditions in Five Lane Ends in Eccleshill, Bradford Road in Frizinghall and Carr Lane at Calverley. Harrogate Road, a main route out of the city, was treacherous because of frozen slush and police were forced to call for extra gritting wagons in parts of Shipley and Keighley to free up snow-bound traffic.

A Council highways spokesman said: "Our gritters worked throughout Sunday night to keep roads clear, and on Monday afternoon there were 32 vehicles busy gritting main routes.

"We are keeping an up-to-the-minute watch on weather reports from the local Met office, and will maintain the gritting where and when it is needed."

But some angry drivers contacted the Telegraph & Argus to complain they had not seen gritters and that some roads were barely passable.

Elaine Lawrence, owner of The White House restaurant on Baildon Moor, said: "It was snowing since 1.30pm and there were queues up and down the hill in both directions. It was gridlocked both ways. Cars couldn't move up or down. On Sunday night the gritter came three times but yesterday we didn't see it at all."

Owen Johnson said Nab Wood Drive, Shipley, where he lives, had been impassable to cars and buses.

"The gritter eventually turned up at 6pm but even it couldn't get up the hill and had to back up."

He said heads should roll at the Council.

They get the weather forecast - why don't they send the gritters out earlier?" he said.

Inspector John Barratt, of West Yorkshire Police, said: "We have had a number of reports of icy treacherous conditions on the Five Lane Ends roundabout in Eccleshill and traffic at a standstill in Harrogate Road.

"There have been problems in the Keighley division, including Shipley town centre, which was reported to be at a standstill at 3.45pm."

A spokesman for the PA Weathercentre said an inch of snow fell in Bingley and other parts of West Yorkshire but snow showers died out overnight. Today the forecast was for a cold north-westerly wind with the odd flurry of snow. Another severe frost was forecast tonight.

Click for detailed weather forecast