There was gridlock on the A8 as traffic ground to a halt at tea-time. Huge queues built up and key local routes such as Nelson Street, pictured, and Regent Street in Greenock and Clune Brae in Port Glasgow also became choked in terrible conditions.

The Port Glasgow to Kilmacolm road was also badly affected.

Drivers reported being stuck on roads for up to an hour and others said that short journeys were taking around two hours to complete.

Council bosses said that gritters had been out during the day pre-treating roads and were sent out again at the peak of the disruption.But officials said their vehicles struggled to get past the traffic jams caused by crashes.

On a snowbound and slippy Murdieston Street, a bus slewed off the road, pictured below, and almost ploughed into back gardens.

As the snow subsided after 6pm, torrential rain melted it and turned roads into rivers. There was flooding on the A8 at Pottery Street and it was shut for a period during the night, with another closure at Langbank. The road had reopened by this morning but there was trouble elsewhere, as the A78 coastal road was shut when a combination of high tide and strong winds combined to cause problems.