COMMUTERS in Wirral were fuming at delays caused by ice and frost on the M53 and surrounding roads this morning – claiming the council and highway authorities were not well prepared for it.

Wirral Council refuted that, and said the situation was dealt with accordingly – despite scores of motorists taking to social media to blame it for a lack of preparation.Some of the complaints related to the M53, with one motorist likening it to an “ice rink”, adding that he saw several cars on the hard shoulder.

Another disgruntled motorist from Bebington added: “The fast lane on motorway was totally out of use on way to nursery in Prenton. I set off at 8.30am and it usually takes 10 minutes each way – but it took us 45 mins to get there and another half hour home.”

Highways England, the body with responsibility for the motorway, said on Twitter that both the M53 and M56 had been treated twice during the night.

The official account added: “Please be aware that even after a road has been treated road users should still remain cautious – particularly if traffic volumes are light.”

When contacted for comment, a Highways England spokesman added: “At this time of the year – at our regional control centre at Newton-le-Willows – we work around the clock with the Met Office to assess weather conditions and how they might affect the motorway network.

“We also have our own weather stations to assess weather conditions including road surface temperatures.

“All this enables us to treat the network accordingly. Our traffic officers also monitor and patrol the network around the clock to respond to any incidents and clear them as quickly as possible to help keep drivers on the move.”

Amid the social media criticism, Wirral Council said it had sent its fleet out three times overnight, and that its teams had worked "solidly" to spread more than 300 tonnes of salt in 12 hours.

Rachel Williams wrote on Twitter: “Why did you grit AFTER it snowed? We’ve known it was going to snow for about a week, do you guys not have a weather app like the rest of the world?”

Rob Eyes added: “Pathetic attempt at gritting the roads! How much notice from the Met Office do you need!!!!”

While Twitter user Sick NOte said: “An hour and 10 mins to get from West Kirby to Meols because @WirralCouncil haven’t gritted the roads.”

Jamie Dempsey said: “Nothing was sudden about it the warnings have been all over the news ALL day. Upton, Greasby, Arrowe Park all extremely dangerous due to hard packed ice and not gritted. Where exactly have the gritters spread anything?”

Conservative group leader Cllr Ian Lewis said: "It’s not good enough.

"The Directors responsible for this service are paid a considerable amount of money to ensure that our roads are kept as safe as possible.

"The drop in temperatures and ice warnings have been anticipated for several days.

"Last night, many councillors were contacted by drivers who found that even main roads were impossible to use, especially in the west of the Borough.

“Once again, it looks like the Town Hall has taken their eye off the ball – instead of making sure the roads were kept safe, the great and the good were attending a conference on how to bring Corbynomics to Wirral.

"It’s time they dropped the toytown politics and left wing claptrap and concentrated instead on the day job – providing services that people need, at a price we can afford.”

In response to this, a Wirral Labour source said: “Ian Lewis is back to his old Tory tricks, criticising hard-working council staff who worked through the night to spread hundreds of tonnes of salt across the main roads of Wirral to battle freezing temperatures and keep the borough moving this morning as people got up to go to work.

“It’s outrageous coming from a right wing politician who has supported a Government that has stripped Wirral Council of hundreds of millions of pounds which should have been available to provide local services.

“The fact that Labour councillors were also working late into the night working on ways to bring and retain more wealth in the borough to combat the Tories austerity shows their commitment to battling for the communities they serve, unlike the Wirral Tories whose increasingly right-wing rhetoric reflects their lack of connection to people who are losing out from their discredited policies.”

A council spokesman said: “We had our gritting fleet out on three separate occasions last night and this morning carrying out treatment on all scheduled gritting routes. Repeated treatment was necessary as wintry showers were washing away previous spreads of salt.

“Because we are spreading more salt in these conditions and crews are having to return to the depot to reload, each of the main gritting routes is taking up to five hours to complete so the teams were pretty much working solidly to keep the key routes across Wirral clear overnight and this morning. Collectively, they spread more than 300 tonnes of salt in that 12-hour period over 430km of road.

“We have staff monitoring detailed forecasts from our meteorological specialists and road surface temperatures 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from November until April in order to make decisions on when to deploy gritters. Our gritting fleet are on permanent standby and can be deployed in less than an hour’s notice if necessary.

“We are proud of our winter maintenance service and the staff who work so hard to deliver it. We are continuing to monitor conditions and forecasts around the clock and we have ample capacity of salt to get out and treat roads whenever it is needed to keep Wirral moving.”