ON January 28, after a full week's notice, we finally saw one inch of snow.

Travelling from Altham to Leyland on the M65 all seemed fine until I reached the Blackburn and Darwen exit. Yes, you've guessed it, from a clear carriageway to a carriageway covered in snow across all lanes, traffic moving at 10mph and coming to a complete standstill at the Hoghton Arms roundabout exit.

Many thanks to the gritters lying in bed on Wednesday morning or was it simply a case of concentrating on the bus routes.

How can a department which performs so badly every year not escape criticism?

This time they don't have an excuse. My nine-year-old daughter knew it was going to snow so why didn't they grit the only major route through East Lancs?

STEVE HACKING (via email).

Footnote: A spokesperson for the Highways Agency said: "All the gritters are fitted with Global Positioning Systems which allow us to track where they have been. The data shows the road was gritted."