SNOWDRIFTS and blizzard conditions caused travel chaos on Hyndburn's roads and forced four schools to close.

Sunday's snow, which drifted up to a foot deep in places, left roads impassable and the icy conditions forced St Peter's Primary School in Accrington, North Cliffe School in Great Harwood, St Andrew's Primary School in Oswaldtwistle and Belthorn Primary School to remain closed on Monday.

Mr Bob Whittaker, headteacher of North Cliffe School off Blackburn Old Road, said: "At 6.45am on Monday I rang our site superviser and after assessing the condition of access to and from the school decided to remain closed due to ice and snow. The slippery conditions would have made access to the school impossible.

"The last thing I wanted to do was close the school but due to our unique location over 700 feet high we sometimes suffer from heavier snow than in the town itself. We were glad to be back open on Tuesday and back into the normal routine. Luckily we only have to close very infrequently, with this being the first day in the last three or four years."

Local weather expert Roy Chetham said the snow was nothing out of the ordinary and was caused by cold air from the east meeting mild air from the west.

He said: "We often get snow in March, although the last time was in 2001. Last weekend's weather wasn't the coldest we have had in March. In 2001 it was -6 degrees whereas it was only -2.6 degrees on Sunday.

"What was interesting last weekend was the Rime phenomenon which is unusual in Hyndburn. Rime is where the wind chill factor freezes moisture in the air, causing a frozen film on items like clothing. It usually only occurs out at sea."

Despite icy travelling conditions on the region's major roads, Accrington's Road Policing Unit said there had been no major accidents.

Sergeant Stuart Isherwood said: "On Monday night we had some bad driving conditions on the A56 and high routes around Accrington. Most of the minor collision were caused by icy conditions rather than snow. But we were pleased to see drivers slowing down and taking extra care when we had the snow flurry and the snow started to settle."