Police and highways officials blamed motorists for becoming stranded for up to ten hours on a motorway after Storm Larisa brought Arctic blizzards to northern England.
Drivers had to be aided by mountain rescue teams near the trans-Pennine M62 after it was blanketed in snow and cars came to a standstill.
But a row broke out over who was to blame for the travel chaos.
Those caught up in the M62 gridlock, which stretched back eight miles when lanes were closed amid heavy snow on Thursday at 1am, hit out at “absolute carnage” with the eastbound stretch of the M62 near Rochdale still “like a car park” on Friday lunchtime.
Motorists claimed they had received few updates from authorities and questioned if snow ploughs were "ill-prepared" for the blizzards and gales, which have been named Storm Larisa by Météo-France.
But Greater Manchester Police's traffic team tweeted on Friday: "Doing our best, but ploughing/gritting have been severely delayed due to the hard shoulder and red X lanes being blocked by some drivers illegally using them."
Snow and 50mph gales brought widespread delays to A roads, railways and airports across Scotland, Wales and northern England on Friday and hundreds of schools were shut.
More is yet to come, with the Met Office issuing yellow warnings for more snow and ice from the Midlands upwards this weekend and a second spell of snow showers in southern England next week.
Commenting on the M62 gridlock, Andrew Page-Dove, from National Highways, insisted the Government body responsible for motorways tried to keep two lanes of the motorway open overnight but problems were "exacerbated" by some drivers using closed lanes and becoming stuck in snow.
'The volume of the traffic speaks for itself'
Asked if too many drivers ignored the weather warnings of travel disruption and heavy snow, Mr Page-Dove replied: "I think the volume of the traffic speaks for itself, particularly this morning. The M62 was queued back to Manchester.
"Personally I probably wouldn't have set out on a journey knowing that those conditions were there.
"Were all those journeys essential? I don't know. I don't think (the warning) was necessarily as well heeded as we would have liked it to have been."
It put the authorities at loggerheads with drivers caught up in the chaos, who expressed their anger. National Highways' North West Twitter account had directed motorists to the M62 only hours earlier.
'It's scary, thinking you are going to spend the night in the car'
Kelly-Marie Prentice, who was stuck on the M62 along with "hundreds and hundreds" of others for six hours with her 15-year-old son amid deep snow, criticised on Sky "we haven't heard a great deal" in the way of updates and only received an update from police three hours into being stuck.
Kim Ward, was on her way home to Halifax from a concert in Manchester with her family overnight, and said she was still stranded on Friday morning.
After diverting onto an A road, she said: "Next thing we knew mountain rescue were knocking on the window with their torches. They brought us here this morning... It's scary, thinking you are going to actually spend the night here in the car."
The wintry weather is forecast to continue, with further Met Office yellow warnings for snow and ice in force across the Midlands, northern England, North Wales and Scotland this weekend.
Jonathan Vautrey, a Met Office forecaster, told The Telegraph England would reach lows of -10C this weekend and the whole of the country will be hit by a second Arctic blast next week which will bring further snowfall in parts of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Met Office said: "Early next week, a broad pattern is emerging which is likely to see a return to colder conditions during late Monday and early Tuesday."
