Gritters, for your information, are designed to try and prevent ice from forming on the road. They do not prevent, and have almost no impact against snow settling. The "grit" is a mixture of salt and brine solution, which requires vehicles to drive over it and crunch it into the road surface to have an effect. This does not stop snow settling, the only way that can be prevented is by a continuous stream of traffic driving.
During slow times- ie early afternoon- when traffic is light, snow settles easily on the roads, though there's not enough for it to be ploughed. That can't really be helped, it's just what nature does. Then later on, traffic builds up, by which time the snow is already laying. Traffic slows, due to conditions, which builds tailbacks. Some cars then fail to anticipate the poor conditions and crash, causing more tailbacks. By this point, all the traffic is at a standstill, and neither snowploughs nor (irrelevant in snow terms) gritters can get through anyway.
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