BUS companies are calling for their busiest routes to be gritted so housing estates are not cut off during cold snaps.

Bosses want to ensure residents are not left stranded because drivers are unable to get along frozen roads.

National grit supplies have plummeted because of the country's harshest winter in 30 years.

That resulted in many county bus routes being left untreated as A and B roads take priority.

Some passengers living on estates such as Crackley, in Chesterton, became stranded last month as buses were unable to reach their stops.

In one incident on January 14, seven buses became stuck on Crackley Bank due to the icy conditions and the slope of the road.

And Councillor David Becket, cabinet member for environment and recycling at Newcastle Borough Council, has now passed on concerns raised by First, D&G and Bakerbus to Staffordshire County Council, which is in charge of highways.

Mr Becket said: "I have regular contact with the major bus operators, and just after the trouble we had at Crackley Bank, they gave me a list of roads that had caused problems for them.

"Mike Maryon, the portfolio holder for highways at the county council, has told me that they will no longer be cutting back on gritting, as they had announced before, and said they were going to try to learn some lessons from what has happened this winter."

Mr Becket said bus firms also raised concerns about routes in Chesterton, Clayton, Cross Heath, Kidsgrove and Scot Hay.

First commercial director Paul De Santis believes there is a happy medium between preserving grit supplies and ensuring buses can reach estates.

He said: "We would like the gritters to concentrate more on bus routes, but we understand the situation in terms of the gritting shortage."

Mr De Santis wants the busiest bus routes in urban areas to be gritted.

He added: "Sometimes a gritter is going down a B road somewhere, and going onto a nearby bus route will only involve a 200-metre deviation."

The council routinely grits 43 per cent of its roads, compared to a national average of 37 per cent.

But it said the gritting policy this winter had been dictated by the national situation.

A spokesman added: "For the last two months, our supplies have been directed by the Government.

"There simply hasn't been enough grit, and we can't use what we don't have."

Selwyn Brown, co-ordinator for North Staffordshire passenger group Aces, said bus firms had done well to cope this winter.

He added: "There have been problems, but I think there is a danger of exaggerating them."