All major routes across Oxfordshire will be gritted ahead of tomorrow's predicted heavy snowfall, highways bosses confirmed tonight.

The county council made a decision to grit all major A roads and B roads in the county this morning.

The Highways Agency also gritted the M40 and the A34 running through the county.

Dwindling supplies have forced the council to grit only 29 per cent of roads during some of the recent cold snap.

But it said 43 per cent would be covered ahead of the storm.

Met Office forecasters predicted at least 5cm of snow would fall on Oxfordshire overnight, making conditions treacherous for drivers trying to get to work tomorrow.

County area engineer Brian Short said a “temporary decision” had been made to grit all major A and B roads in the county this morning.

Before the weekend, gritting had been cut back to 29 per cent of roads, to conserve depleting salt stocks.

But Mr Short said the council had enough salt to resume a temporary full programme of gritting, although the situation was being reviewed late tonight and tomorrow.

Mr Short added gritting of 29 per cent of roads would be the normal schedule, unless otherwise stated.

He was unable to say how much salt the county had stockpiled or how long it would last if wintry weather conditions continued.

Twelve schools, most of them in the Banbury area, closed today.

By lunchtime, headteachers were emailing parents to warn them that there was a strong possibility schools would be closed.

On Thursday, 68,000 pupils in the county missed lessons as more than 250 schools shut.

A large number of schools across Oxfordshire were also shut on Friday.

Stuart Thompson, a spokesman for the Highways Agency, said: “Our staff will continue to work as hard as we can to keep the M40 and A34 open.We have decent supplies of salt and the county council can approach us to ask for help if it runs out of its own supplies.”

Barry Gromett, a spokesman for the Met Office, said tonight: “There is the potential for 5cm of snow across Oxfordshire.

“There could still be quite a bit of snow falling at 6am through to 8am, and that will mean a challenging drive into work for many drivers.

“The snow will ease off quite quickly and then we will be looking at more straightforward cold weather conditions, with one or two snow showers.

“Tomorrow night there will be cold winds and an overnight frost, but not masses of snow.”

affrench@oxfordmail.co.uk