Lancashire County Council is warning drivers to watch out for black ice.
Changeable conditions over the past 48 hours have seen the county hit with a mixture of snow, sleet and rain which, combined with freezing temperatures, has increased the risk of black ice forming.
County Councillor Tim Ashton, Cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “Our gritting crews have been working in shifts around the clock since 2.00pm on Monday when the current weather front came in.
“The changeable conditions have not made things easy which is why they’ve continued to patrol throughout to make sure we can deal with any problems as quickly as possible.
“I’d ask drivers to be particularly careful as black ice! has been a problem in some areas where roads that had been gritted several times over the previous hours turned instantly to sheet ice as rain and hail fell on freezing surfaces.
“We’re expecting further wintry showers throughout Tuesday night along with freezing temperatures so our crews will again be working through to 7.30 in the morning.
“As always we’d ask people to be careful on the roads as even after being gritted and appearing to be clear they can remain icy in places.”
Lancashire County Council has a fleet of 49 frontline gritters which can treat the 1,500 miles of the county council’s priority road network within around four hours, but may take longer in severe conditions.
You can find information and advice on winter weather, including real-time gritting updates on Lancashire County Council’s website which has links to forecasts and the council’s Twitter and Facebook feeds which are updated every time the gritt! ers go out.
• For more information about travelling this winter visit www.lancashire.gov.uk/winter, follow us on Twitter for news and updates at www.twitter.com/lancashirecc or Facebook www.facebook.com/lancashirecc (click on the winter tab).