Melvin Bandtock
3 Apr 2014 · Coroner Andrew Tweddle · County Durham & Darlington
The coroner's concerns
1. untreated black ice on B6313 Craghead Lane
“there is a Duty Manager on call to assess changing weather reports and the collation of information obtained from other sources, in particular the police, in order to decide whether salting/gritting machines should be deployed either on a local or County wide basis”
2. misjudged temperature forecast leading to no gritting
“the Duty Manager believed that weather temperatures would increase in a relatively short period of time whereas in reality they did not do so”
3. multiple collisions due to untreated road conditions
“high number of collision incidents reported to the police that morning some of which resulted in report being made to the County Council”
4. reliance on outdated gritting procedures
“It was said that this procedure had been in place for many years and was tried and tested.”
5. insufficient inter‑agency information sharing
“a better collective sharing of information between the two organisations may well be of benefit together with a review of the County Council's own practices and procedures”
Responses
2014-0147-Response-by-Durham-Constabulary.pdf ↗· Durham County Council
Stated action
“The dispatchers for that area would then deploy officers to the incident and contact Durham County Council as appropriate.”
2014-0147-Response-by-Durham-County-Council.pdf ↗· Durham County Council
Stated action · prior to the next winter season
“The Council intends to meet with the forecasters prior to the next winter season to determine whether notifications relating to changes in weather can be improved.”