Blame game over gridlock

Road chiefs today brazenly refused to accept responsibility for the chaos during last week's whiteout which brought much of the South-East to a standstill.

Asked by the Evening Standard what had gone wrong, the key people responsible for keeping the region running produced an extraordinary catalogue of excuses, blaming:

* Rush-hour traffic

* People leaving work early

* The weather forecasters

* Each other.

Camden saw some of the worst problems in London, with thousands forced to make long journeys home on foot although only two inches of snow had fallen. But today Camden transport director Peter Bishop was unapologetic.

He said: "If there had been a problem and we had caused it, we would own up to it. But we were gritting constantly. I don't think there was anything else we could have done at all and if you are looking for apologies I think you should speak to people further out."

Councillor John Thane, executive member for transport at Camden, insisted the council had nothing to apologise for. "Most of the problems were because of the motorway being blocked and people not being able to go north because the tailback extended to this borough," he said.

Harrow council blamed the Met Office for failing to give them a sufficient warning - ignoring the fact that weathermen had been predicting problems since the beginning of last week.

Several agencies, including contractors in charge of gritting the M11 and M25, bizarrely blamed rush-hour traffic for making it difficult for gritters to get through.

The AA said: "There needs to be much more co-ordination between the bodies we rely on to keep things running," said a spokesman.

The one man to take full responsibility was Highways Agency chief Tim Matthews. He said: "We were not providing the level of service, particularly on the M11, we should have done. We do apologise and accept responsibility."