THE morning rush-hour descended into chaos today as blizzards brought traffic to a virtual standstill.

All major routes in the region were affected with the A66 west of Scotch Corner and the A171 at Stanghow being closed. Progress on the A1 was slow. Jack-knifed lorries were the cause of many blockages.

Highways authorities across the North had gritting lorries out overnight but problems were compounded by the snow falling on already frozen ground.

One motorist stuck on the A66 was David Coates of Dalton, near Richmond. Heading for work in Darlington, he had been stuck in standstill traffic at Dunsa Bank for almost an hour.

"Everything has just stopped, it's just chaos" he said. "Lorries are really struggling and at least one has jack-knifed and completely blocked the road." He added: "I'm astonished the authorities haven't been prepared for this."