COMMUTERS faced another day of chaos as the Forest woke up to its third white Wednesday in a row.

Schools closed and traffic came to a standstill as a blanket of snow hit the morning rush hour.

Many pupils were caught up in the chaos as their school buses set off in sleet for schools that they could not reach or later closed.

And commuters faced long journeys into work as motorists started to abandon their cars on blackspots, such as Littledean Hill and Plump Hill.

By midday the chaos had melted away and buses and some schools started to operate as normal.

But one school bus operator who did not want to be named said: "What the last few weeks has taught us is that there needs to be better co-ordination. I will be calling for a meeting between police, Highways and schools to see if we can get to grips with it a bit better.

"Taking the children back and forth on the roads can increase the danger."

Highways chiefs say they could not grit the Forest roads at 5am as planned because of heavy rain.

"We had to wait until it started easing at 7am," said a spokesman. "There was no point gritting because the rain would have just washed it away.

"We have been out spot salting on the key routes on higher ground throughout the morning to keep the traffic moving."

Highways say the B4228 at St Briavels, Ruardean Hill, Littledean Hill and Plump Hill were the worst affected areas.

Less than 30 minutes after gritting started a female passenger suffered a minor head injury after the number 24 Stagecoach bus to Gloucester slid off Stenders Road, Mitcheldean.

A broken down school bus and several minor bumps closed Littledean Hill at 8.30am.

Motorists started abandoning cars as the bus and 4X4 which got stuck trying to rescue it blocked the road to Cinderford.

An ambulance on a 999 call struggled to get through the traffic on Plump Hill where motorists were stuck for more than an hour.

Police say traffic was heavy on many more routes as cars struggled to get a grip in the sludge.

Thousands of children had another day off as 22 schools closed across the Forest.

A few coaches from hotspots like Cinderford and Yorkley failed to reach schools such as Whitecross and Monmouth which remained open. Buses had already started to pick up pupils from outlying areas when they were told Lakers and RFDC had closed and had to do U-turns in the car parks.

But the roads were passable within a few hours and Forester weatherman Jonathan Powell said the Forest should wake up to a normal Wednesday next week.