Vale of Clwyd MP Chris Ruane sent a letter to county council leader Hugh Evans amid concerns about the level of gritting.

Mr Ruane said: "I have received first hand and second hand reports of numerous accidents involving black ice on roads and pavements.

"I took my 10-year-old daughter to school by car this morning and had to walk her the 100 metres to the gate, holding on to a stone wall."

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The MP added: "I understand that the council's policy, under normal circumstances, is only to grit major roads.

"The current circumstances are exceptional.

"The black ice was predicted by the Met Office yesterday and I feel that Denbighshire County Council's policy on gritting needs to be reviewed to cover exceptional conditions of widespread black ice."

Ysbyty Glan Clwyd reported an unprecedented 90 cases in accident and emergency between 8am and 12pm yesterday.

Ambulances taking people to routine hospital appointments were delayed by the icy road conditions.

Elsewhere, there was one instance of a bus crashing, as well as near misses and ambulances being delayed across the county. A spokesman from Arriva North West said: "Due to very bad road conditions, one of our buses slid into a lamppost in Denbigh earlier today.

"The bus pulled up at the bus stop and was stationary when the back end slid into the lamppost.

"Very minimal damage occurred to the CCTV housing on the side of the vehicle, there were no injuries," she added.

Denbigh resident Ken Davies, of Bryn Garth, said his estate was like 'an ice-rink' yesterday.

"There have been cars and vans coming up past my house all day, but are getting stuck due to the ice, and have to reverse back down," Mr Davies said.

"I have been in touch with the council this morning, and they said it's not their policy to grit estates.

"What annoys me is that I pay my council tax, which has gone up again this year, and they can't even grit the roads.

"Also we are opposite two schools here, Ysgol Heulfre and Ysgol Gwaenynog, thankfully the children are off today, as there could have been an accident," he added.

"I'm registered as disabled, so I can't even go out today as I'm too scared to, its like an ice-rink. An Arriva bus slid and its backend hit a lamppost, thank god it wasn't a car or someone crossing the road," he added.

Ian Davies, councillor and deputy major of Denbigh said: "Waking up to seasonal weather is quite common this winter, but in 21st century Denbighshire one does not expect pavements and car parks like glass with people falling over after a complete lack of gritting.

"As a town councillor and mayor-elect, I received dozens of complaints from local residents about conditions underfoot.

"Forward planning appears to have gone out of the window."

He added: "The local authority needs to wake up before the compensation claims arrive."

The Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust said the delays, mainly to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan, were due to ice on the roads in Conwy and Denbighshire.

Iwan Prys-Jones, the county council's corporate director of environment, stressed the weather conditions that caused the ice were exceptional: "The gritters have been out throughout the Christmas and New Year period in line with published gritting schedules which are available on the council's website and have continued working throughout the day today.

"In addition to this, Denbighshire has been hand salting town centres and residential areas, and will continue to do as much as possible to keep all roads and pathways clear in light of these exceptional circumstances.

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