SCORES of accidents on icy roads across North Yorkshire were today blamed on ungritted roads as the county awoke to a covering of snow.

Police were inundated with calls from stricken motorists whose cars had skidded on a dangerous combination of ice and snow.

A police spokeswoman said numerous calls came in for the A1237 York ring road and the B1224 towards Wetherby, which drivers described as an "ice-rink."

Fire crews were called to free a driver from a crashed car on the A59 near Hessay at about 8am. The driver was taken to York Hospital with minor injuries.

One motorist who came into York on the A59 claimed the road was a sheet of ice from Skipbridge to Poppleton, and appeared not to have been gritted at all.

"It was very dangerous," he said. "I saw two vehicles who had gone into the ditch."

Weather forecasters predicted temperatures would struggle to get above zero in many areas today and predicted that there could be snow showers in the north and east of the country.

A spokesman from the AA urged drivers to be cautious, warning of black ice on the roads.

"People, particularly in the south of the country, have not yet had to put up with cold conditions and so are not tuned into driving on ice," he said.

"People should drive slowly and carefully and be cautious of black ice, particularly if they are going out early."

Forecasters said the icy conditions will continue into next week with easterly winds picking up and a strong possibility of snow.

City of York Council said that its gritters were out treating the city's roads as snow started to fall.

It called out its winter maintenance specialists when weathermen warned that temperatures would drop to freezing overnight.

Police said motorists blamed lack of gritting on the roads.

But North Yorkshire County Council said all its available vehicles were out gritting the county's roads from yesterday evening onwards, and were back on the roads this morning after a break to sleep.

A spokesman did warn that the snow had continued longer than forecast and that on roads which had seen light traffic, the salting was not as effective as it would be on heavily used roads.

He urged motorists to be careful, particularly on minor roads.

Updated: 10:56 Saturday, January 04, 2003