Heavy snow in the early hours of Sunday made driving conditions very difficult, and persistent low temperatures meant that snow failed to melt, instead turning to compacted ice on roads and pavements.

The situation was compounded by further heavy snow on Tuesday afternoon, which saw several roads in the Rothesay area closed by police on safety grounds and motorists abandoning their cars in many locations.

Island residents attempting to return home by train on Tuesday evening were frustrated after major disruption to rail services in the west of Scotland forced the temporary closure of Glasgow Central station.

West Coast Motors cancelled the island's bus services on Tuesday evening due to the adverse road conditions. Although the roads re-opened on Wednesday morning, bus services to Ballochgoy, Barone Road and The Bush remained cancelled.

The dreadful conditions have seen Argyll and Bute Council come in for much criticism for their apparent failure to properly treat the island's roads.

Stewart Turner, the authority's head of roads and amenity services, said a combination of extremely low temperatures, further snow falling on already salted roads and relatively light volumes of traffic was making the job of the council's roads staff very difficult.

"Under normal conditions," Mr Turner explained, "salt is applied to roads, which then melts any snow and ice present.

"However, the effectiveness of salt is greatly reduced when applied to surfaces with a temperature of less than -6 degrees. At present, we are experiencing road surface temperatures of -9 degrees in some places, with more widespread drops in temperatures overnight.

"In addition, salt is being applied to already frozen roads, and then further snow is falling and then freezing on top. This makes the whole winter maintenance operation very difficult and repetitive, for little or no lasting results.

"We are mixing grit or sand with the salt to assist in the breakup of ice and snow.

"High volumes of traffic would help break down compacted snow and ice, but we have comparatively low volumes of traffic. Some of salt and grit being spread is having little effect due to these factors.

"Ploughing of snow is only possible once a reasonable depth has developed, of 50mm or more, and even when ploughed the road may still retain a fine film of snow. In shower conditions, snow will immediately start to accumulate again one the plough has passed.

"When travelling, please ensure that you give yourself more time to make your journeys. It is not possible in these weather conditions to expect all our roads to be free from ice and snow. You should drive at speeds appropriate to the road conditions."

Road gritting crews hit the highways of Bute at 6am on Tuesday, but rain, sleet and heavy snow meant many 'repeat' treatments were needed throughout the day.

The council told us in a further statement that crews had "continued to treat heavy snow from mid-afternoon onwards, with vehicles active right through until between 2200-2300hrs.

"An additional snowplough was mobilised on Bute as drivers became available and continued to treat."

The gritters were active again from 6.30am on Wednesday. A total of 2,900 tonnes of salt have been spread on Argyll and Bute's roads since noon on December 18.

Generally throughout Argyll and Bute , Treatments have been carried out on all days between 0600hrs and 22:00hrs since Friday.