Driving conditions in York will get even more treacherous from tomorrow.

The city's roads bosses have announced they will start rationing their salt from 8am on Saturday.

It follows a Government request to authorities to cut their salt usage by 25 per cent, as the country's biggest freeze in 30 years continues.

City of York Council has urged motorists to drive "with extreme care" as the new mixture of salt and sand will be less effective than the pure rocksalt used so far.

Richard White, assistant director of maintenance services at the council, said: “Our supplier has confirmed a delivery of 100 tonnes of rock salt on Monday, but cannot guarantee any future deliveries beyond that date.

"On that basis, we have taken the decision to preserve our stocks as best we can.

“I want to reassure people that we are doing all we can to mitigate the effect of the prolonged wintry weather but, like most other authorities across the country, we are now faced with having to ration rock salt.

"Though we will continue to grit, the mixture of rock salt and grit sand we will be using will not be as effective as using rock salt alone.

“I would advise drivers to allow more time for their journeys, to leave sufficient distance between them and the car in front and to leave plenty of braking time."

Mr White thanked the public for their patience, and praised gritting teams for working round the clock to keep roads as clear as possible.