Ungritted car park in Darwen sees seven crashes in two days

On Wednesday, January 18, a Vauxhall Corsa parked in the Mayfield car park slid backwards into Zest Café Lounge and crashed into the outdoor tables and chairs.

Luckily, no one was injured and the furniture took the impact so the glass frontage did not smash, but business owners have spoken out over their anger as incidents on the icy roads has been an ongoing issue for decades.

Zest Cafe Lounge (Image: Phillipa Kelly)

Zest Café Lounge owner, Phillipa Kelly, said: “The car slid down on the ice because there’s no grit bins or anything around us.

"When it gets icy, it gets very icy and dangerous on there. There is a glass window but there was a table and chairs that it hit before that so luckily the glass didn’t break and no one was hurt.

“We deal with Together Housing because the area is on adopted land so it’s been back and forth between them and the council for whose responsible, but it’s been an issue for ages now.”

The manager of Mayfield Fish & Chip Shop described the shifts on January 18 and 19, the days when the roads were the iciest, as an “absolute nightmare”.

Ms Kelly added: “Within the 48 hours we had seven accidents on there. There were no physical injuries but it’s more about the emotional distress this causes us.

“The shifts were absolute hell, it was a nightmare. We were trying to help people get across and we just spent the whole six hours those days trying to get grit down and do what we could to help customers. It was horrendous.

“The owner (Steven Wood) took over in 2003 so it’s been an ongoing issue for the past 20 years but neither the council or Together Housing will take responsibility for it.

"Every year there’s loads of elderly people terrified to come out because of the snow and ice. It’s ridiculous.”

Mr Wood said: “There’s a serious possibility of ambulances getting stuck and the majority of people in the flats are elderly, so it causes a dilemma that needs resolving but nobody will.

"I have been a resident for 20 years and complained on numerous occasions.”

Together Housing was not able to provide a statement as it stated it does not provide a grit spreading service.

Cllr Quesir Mahmood, executive member for Growth at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said that due to limited resources, the Mayfield car park is not covered.

He said: “The Council’s gritting squad spread over 3,000 tonnes of rock salt on Blackburn with Darwen roads per year.

"Decisions on gritting are based are weather updates, road surface temperatures and real-time information from our three weather stations.

“Due to limited resources, primary routes are prioritised by the gritting and ploughing teams to ensure they are kept open and safe.

“Our gritter covered up and down Bolton Road on the A666 numerous times, however, due to this particular area being a side road and not a primary route, it will not have been covered. 

“The grit bin directly across from this area was filled on the January 19, and we would request that residents and business owners please make use of this to keep themselves and others safe during the cold snaps.”