Dorset County Council has defended its gritting teams against accusations they had failed to stop ice on the A35 this weekend.

The Upton bypass was closed for three hours on Saturday morning due to the icy conditions on the A35.

Dorset Police were alerted at 7.55am to reports of slippery conditions and cars reportedly “spinning”. Just before 8am a decision was taken to close the road, affecting both the east and west bound carriageways.

A silver Citroen C4 was in collision with the central barrier a mile from the Bakers Arms roundabout.

A silver Mitsubishi Colt, registered to a woman from Norfolk overturned and ended up on its roof on the westbound side, and the road closure was extended to the Upton House slip road.

Many Echo readers blamed a lack of gritting for the closure. But the council says the road was fully gritted on Friday night and it was rain falling in the early hours of the morning which caused the dangerous conditions.

Dorset County Council's transportation staff were alerted to the icy conditions and sent a gritter which was on the road just after 8.08am.

The third accident was a collision between a black Nissan Qashqai, registered to a company at Windmill Hill and a blue VW Polo, registered to a woman from Bournemouth.

At 8.28am police officers extended the closure to the Holes Bay roundabout. At 9.11am the county council was gritting the eastbound carriageway.

It was decided the road was safe enough to be re-opened from the Bakers Arms eastbound at 10.27am. At 10.36am the Holes Bay and Upton House sections were re-opened and the dual-carriageway was completely open to traffic at 10.51am, after vehicles were recovered.

“Purely due to the fact the road was so icy, we had no option but to close it for safety reasons, to enable the local authority to grit it properly,” said a spokesman for Dorset Police.

In December rain falling on freezing roads caused the Upton bypass has been closed for several hours. Rain falling on previously gritted roads has caused problems across the county before, with the A338 famously closed for five hours in 2010 after a series of accidents on black ice.