POLICE are urging drivers to take care and to slow down while driving on icy roads following a number of minor collisions.

The A66 was closed between Scotch Corner and the Durham and Cumbria border for more than two hours yesterday morning after two lorries jack-knifed in the icy conditions.

Officers were called to deal with the incident, which happened on the westbound carriageway at about 9.15am, and the snow gates at Scotch Corner were closed to allow them to clear up the road safely.

A spokeswoman for the Highways Agency, which closed the road, said it was not clear if the wintry conditions were the cause of the incident, but said the road was clear from 11.11am.

Several other minor collisions have also occurred on roads around the area, including an incident on the A19 near Easington when a snow plough got into difficulties on the southbound carriageway and had to be recovered.

Inspector Ken Cook, of Durham Police’s strategic roads policing department, said: “While snow falls are now more intermittent, icy road surfaces are sure to be with us for the foreseeable future.

I would urge motorists to assume that at all times of the day and night roads will be icy, even if they look clear, as road surface temperatures continue to struggle to get above freezing.”

He added: “Thankfully, very few collisions in the force area have resulted in serious injury, but some of them were as a result of motorists not driving appropriately in the conditions.

“It is easy to be lulled into a false sense of security when the road is not covered in snow but drivers must anticipate that ice may well make driving conditions very difficult.”