EAST Lancashire slithered and slid back to work after the long Christmas break in a new chaos of jammed roads and cars trapped by snow a foot deep.

It was the worst winter free up jam for years after a night of heavy snowfalls and dipping temperatures.

And as ploughs struggled to free the roads and keep communications open police appealed for people not to park their cars on main roads.

Thousands of people forewarned by weather forecasts and a two-hour lunchtime blizzard the previous day walked to work as buses got clogged, trains broke down and cars were stranded.

All over East Lancashire it was the same picture of transport in a tangle as bus drivers struggled manfully to keep their vehicles running. Villages were cut off in some cases.

On the M6 motorway a speed limit of 30mph was imposed by police to cut the risks of accidents.

Early trains on the East Lancashire line were disrupted when a workers’ service from the Burnley area broke down and a bus could not be substituted.

Police also put out a warning to children to keep off thin ice in flooded areas amid fears there could be a tragedy if the warning was ignored.