Huddersfield was hit by the first serious frost of the winter.

And there was concern that despite temperatures below freezing and ice on many roads, no full gritting programme was carried out by Kirklees Council.

Temperatures dropped to minus 2 degrees C in parts of the town early yesterday.

And that brought problems on several roads, although the council did have gritters working on some routes.

One Shepley woman said: “Why were all the roads not gritted?

“Coming out of my gate I was greeted with a car, which had crashed into a dry stone wall and half the car suspended over the field with a considerable drop.

“If the car had hit the broken fencing a couple of feet away I am sure this incident would have been more serious.

“Further up Lane Head Road, there appeared to be a number of lorries, a bus and various cars involved in yet another incident. The road was closed for a short time.

“I spoke to Kirklees Highways, and was informed that Kirklees have not commenced gritting yet, as the cold spell is only set to last a few days. I pointed out that one day should be enough, but was told that it would be cleared by 10am.

“I pointed out most people do not work flexi-time and have to leave the house by 7am, and children start school before 9am.”

Meltham cyclist Mrs Sharon Hunt suffered serious bruising when she skidded and came off her bike on black ice in Meltham Road, Netherton.

Her husband Paul said: “The road was just a sheet of black ice and had not been gritted.”

Huddersfield weatherman Paul Stevens said: “It was the first frost of the winter, as I forecast last Thursday.

“We had a blast of Polar air coming in with clear overnight skies and it led to a sharp frost.

“Some low-lying parts of the town saw temperatures as low as minus 2 degrees C and elsewhere it was below freezing.

“But it did quickly warm up and for the rest of this week, and indeed the month, we should see temperatures above average although it will be unsettled with wind and rain”.

A Kirklees spokesman said: “In response to the overnight forecast for Sunday night, the council’s night patrol was out monitoring the road network and carried out some localised gritting treatment to the priority road network in response to the conditions encountered at the time.

“Having received the weather forecast for Monday/Tuesday, the night patrol will also be out overnight carrying out the same procedure.”