ONE of East Lancashire’s most notorious roads was yesterday closed by police due to concerns over safety after six accidents there in two days.

Five vehicles skidded off the Grane Road, in Haslingden, on Saturday morning, while a blue Citroen Xsara Picasso flipped over yesterday afternoon.

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Inspector John Fryer from Lancashire Police said the road was closed from junction five of the M65 to Haslingden.

He said: “We asked gritters to attend because it was not gritted very well.

“The road was closed until then because it was too dangerous to open.”

Nobody was seriously hurt in the six crashes, but poor weather conditions are believed to have played a part in all six incidents.

The Citroen left the road close to the Grey Mare pub after it skidded on ice at around 1.10pm, Insp Fryer said.

A crane was called to the scene to lift the car out of a ravine 10 feet away from the road, and five feet below it.

Conservative councillor David Stansfield, who represents Helmshore and Haslingden for the county council, said: “It’s bad weather, we have to accept that, and really anybody that is driving can see that road is bad and should take their foot off the pedal.

“All I’m going to say, without getting political, is I appreciate and understand the situation and my heart goes out to those who have accidents, but it’s down to the cuts from the county council.”

Haslingden’s Labour MP Graham Jones said he has received a raft of complaints about the county council’s gritting service in the area, and said he would be sending a letter to Cllr Stansfield to ask ‘what he is doing to resolve these issues’.

Cllr Stansfield said: “Mr Jones needs to get on to his Labour [borough] councillors in the Worsley ward, and the county councillors, because they have the say, we [the Conservatives] don’t.”

The road, on which several people have been killed in recent years, has previously been the target of a campaign called for the introduction of more safety measures.