AROUND 10 road accidents occurred after a water leak and sub-zero temperatures left a busy main road covered in treacherous sheet ice.

Residents have slammed a water company for making Union Road in Oswaldtwistle a ‘death trap’ after failing to repair a burst water pipe for 10 days.

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One witness described the chaotic scenes at around 8am on yesterday as ‘out of control’ .

Several vehicles lost control and pedestrians slipped over close to a pelican crossing.

Nearby businesses said gallons of water had been bubbling up through the road surface for the past two weeks.

United Utilities, who are handling the repairs to the burst pipe, said they had launched an investigation as contractors had failed to fix the problem on Wednesday, as had previously been agreed.

At least two people on motorcycles were also losing control on the ice, which affected an area of round 50 metres.

Former Mayor of Hyndburn, Paul Barton, 42 who runs Barton and Hallworth Funeral Services with wife Sarah, 39, said he realised there was a problem when he arrived at work at 6.45am.

He said: “I brought our hearse to the front of the building to defrost it and get it ready for the day.

“Almost immediately a car exiting Haworth Street opposite began to slide towards the hearse and narrowly missed it.

“Over the next 30 minutes I saw seven collisions, it was so dangerous it was almost impossible to keep control.

“A van with a trailer jack-knifed and blocked both sides of the road at the crossing. It crashed into the barriers, damaging them where pedestrians wait to cross.

“It was all caused by water coming from under the road a little way down from the crossing.

“It’s been leaking for a couple of weeks and has been reported to United Utilities.”

Sarah Barton, who arrived shortly after her husband, said: “It was a death trap, even vehicles moving at low speed were losing control.

“I was filming when a man slipped over on his back as the crossed the road.

“Cars and vans were approaching but with Paul’s help he managed to get up.

“A woman came off a scooter and slid along the road on her back.

“It wasn’t like she was going at an unsafe speed, it was just impossible to see the ice.

“I just felt helpless, we were waving at cars approaching to slow down but they weren’t speeding and there was no visible hazard.

“I’m just thankful nobody was seriously injured.”

Heather Bradley, whose husband John runs Oswaldtwistle’s Furniture Emporium on Union Road, was waiting for a lift to work outside their premises at 5.40am.

She said: “I saw a motorcyclist coming from the Oswaldtwistle Mills direction, he wasn’t doing any great speed but the cycle went from under him and he slid dozens of yards along the road.

“I rushed to see if he was okay and thankfully he got up, but his bike seemed damaged.”

Jamal Kazi, of Union News, said: “The water has been leaking through the road surface for a couple of weeks.

“They came to have a look at it but left without doing the repairs.

“With the temperature dipping well below zero at night it meant this was an accident waiting to happen.”

The situation on the road improved after around 8.30am after the sun rose and temperatures increased slightly.

Gareth Davies, water network manager at United Utilities, said: “We’re really sorry to hear about the incident this morning.

“The leak had been reported to us and, due to the location on the busy junction, we needed to arrange traffic management before we could carry out the repair.

“On Tuesday night we gritted the road to avoid the risk of ice and the leak was scheduled to be fixed on Wednesday evening.

“I’m now investigating why our contractors did not carry out the repair that evening, however, the work is now taking place this afternoon (Thursday).

“We’re always grateful to the public for reporting leaks to us and we do our best to get to them as quickly as possible.”