A gridlock-busting gritter taskforce could be set up in the West Midlands under proposals by Black Country councillor David Sparks.

He revealed the plan as he hit out at last week’s gritting arrangements.

The region’s roads were brought to standstill last week with the snow chaos.

Hundreds of schools were closed as extreme winter weather wreaked havoc on the roads, with some commuters taking more than six hours to travel just 20 miles.

But Councillor Sparks, chairman of regeneration and transport with the Local Government Association (LGA), said the current system where each council make its own plans for gritting was a recipe for disaster.

He said he would be raising the idea of a regional gritting body with national bigwigs at a meeting in London today. “It’s just like Dad’s Army at the moment,” he said. “It seems every time we get snow fall, the whole country is paralysed and the latest situation was a case in point. How much chaos do they need before we act?”

He said he took more than three hours to get back to Quarry Bank from his place of work in central Birmingham last Friday and it was clear some local authorities were more efficient than others in gritting the roads.