THE big freeze brought chaos as motorists battled through blizzard conditions in York.

Prangs, minor collisions and skidding cars were a common sight with police reporting a number of "minor accidents" as the snowy conditions forced cars from the road.

As the weather worsened, gridlock threatened to take over with major delays reported on the A64.

Today City of York Council insisted it had mobilised the gritters, saying its vehicles had been out ten times since Friday.

However a spokesman conceded that there had been trouble as the snow - forecast for days - had "fallen at the wrong time".

Coun Tracey Simpson-Laing, Labour opposition transport spokeswoman, today called for an inquiry into why there were not more gritters on the roads.

"I've never seen the traffic back up like this before," she said. "I think we need to have some information brought back to find out why the problems we suffered last year with the gritters may not have been learned."

Motorists travelling into York on all the major arteries rang the Evening Press to report problems.

Delays were reported on the A64 as rush-hour traffic filed into single-lane carriageways around York.

There was slow-moving traffic on the A1237 as a number of lorries ground to a halt.

Other trouble spots included the A1036 and the A1079 at Dunnington.

York Police control room Inspector Nigel Slater said all roads were open this morning and "passable", but he warned drivers to be vigilant by watching their speed and distance from other vehicles.

Police started to receive calls about "minor bumps" from 5.30am when a driver skidded into the Tadcaster Road roundabout.

Moments later another vehicle hit a phone box on the A19 at Crockey Hill. Just after 6am, there were minor accidents on the A19/A1237 roundabout, and at the Paragon Street junction with Fawcett Street, in York, as vehicles shunted into cars in front.

Bill Woolley, City of York Council's acting director of planning and transport, said all resources had been poured into tackling the extreme weather conditions.

He said the roads had been gritted ten times since Friday night, with 480 tonnes of salt laid down.

"The snow has fallen at the worst time," he said.

"Unfortunately the bulk of it has fallen since around 5.30am this morning."

Mr Woolley said if the snow had fallen earlier they could have ploughed it, before the bulk of the morning traffic was exposed to it.

Outside York, North Yorkshire County Council today reported no serious problems on the county's roads. A spokeswoman said about 100 gritters had been out, with 150 farm contractors on stand-by."

Wintry conditions yesterday morning were blamed for a 12-car shunt on the A19 southbound carriageway between Borrowby and South Kilvington, near Northaller-ton. No one was hurt in the smash which occurred at about noon.

Updated: 10:02 Monday, February 21, 2005