Ice storm: recriminations fly as UK freezes to a halt

Road and rail officials, councils and the Government sought to blame each other last night for the chaos that crippled essential services during extreme weather predicted well in advance.

Alistair Darling, the Transport Secretary, was accused of going to ground. He refused all requests for interviews to explain the gridlock in London and the South-east brought about by Thursday's snow and ice.

The Department for Transport was panicked into saying it intended to introduce laws as soon as possible to ensure councils removed ice and snow from roads.

But the Tories claimed the Government was "outrageous" in shifting the blame when its own Highways Agency had failed to clear snow from the M11, the worst-hit motorway.

The department told The Independent that gritting was "an operational issue" and a matter for the Highways Agency. It would have been "inappropriate" for Mr Darling to discuss the issue on television, a spokeswoman said.

The agency, which maintains motorways, apologised for the "unacceptable" situation and vowed to review guidance on how police and local authorities deal with severe weather. But David York, its operations director, said that he was not prepared to resign. "I am not thinking about my neck at all. The important thing is to understand what went wrong and to make sure it doesn't happen again," he told The World At One on BBC Radio 4.

Tim Collins, the shadow Transport Secretary, said there was a need for an urgent review of the contingency plans for coping with low temperatures and snow. "It really is not acceptable in the 21st century for a cold snap to leave a transport system in chaos and thousands stranded," Mr Collins said. "It will seem bizarre in the extreme to motorists trapped on the M11 that the Government should say it will force local councils to grit the roads when it, and it alone, has failed properly to grit the motorways."

In a statement, Mr Darling said he had asked the Highways Agency, local authorities, the rail industry and London Underground for a report explaining why they had not been ready. "Snowfall in January is hardly unexpected," he said.

The M11 chaos was caused by a failure to apply grit until 2pm on Thursday, well after it was applied to the M25. The M11 reopened at 6pm yesterday.