Commuters could be heading for a winter of delays – after Metrolink’s boss revealed the new trams ‘don’t like ice’.

His admission came after rush hour commuters yesterday faced huge delays, with services suspended between Rochdale and Oldham, thought to be caused by ice on the overhead cables.

One tram was stuck on the line at Derker for two hours while technicians were called.

Last night Transport for Greater Manchester’s Metrolink director Peter Cushing blamed Rochdale’s altitude, the climate – and a software quirk in the new tram fleet which makes them sensitive to ice. He said they had sent out a maximum fleet of ‘ice breakers’, but this could not fully combat the problem.

The latest chaos came after a string of delays, with four faults causing problems for over half an hour this month, and anger over points problems at Cornbrook.

And with temperatures due to plummet to minus 3C later this week fears are growing for how the network will cope. For many passengers, who took to Twitter to vent their fury, it was the final straw.

Michael Pollitt, 29, from Chorlton, said his 25 minute journey to work in Salford Quays took over two hours.

He said: “I had to get a bus to town and then a tram to Salford. I’ve been late so much lately that I’m getting in loads of trouble and it could mean I don’t get a promotion I want. It’s absolutely awful, a nightmare.”

Last night Mr Cushing said: “Clearly we need to apologise but what we are doing now is working hard to find out exactly what the problem is and to resolve it. You have a problem you solve it, you get people to work on it – and that’s exactly what we are going to do.”

He said recent issues were unusual, adding: “We’ve had ice on the overheads that the new trams don’t particularly like. One of the best chances we have of curing this issue is curing the software itself, working with the manufacturer Bombardier to trick the software into thinking there’s no ice.”

Mr Cushing refused demands for him to quit. He said: “I don’t think my resignation would serve any purpose.”