South Norfolk councillor Clayton Hudson calls on county council to review gritting programme after fatal collision in Tivetshall Road, Pulham Market

A man, who was driving on a road only moments before a fatal collision happened in icy conditions, has said blame could lie in the county’s gritting programme.

Emergency services were called to Pulham Market after a white Toyota Hilux was involved in a collision with a DAF truck on January 2, at 6.50am.

The passenger of the Toyota, a man in his 20s believed to be Lewis Roberts, from Roydon, was declared dead at the scene.

The driver, a woman in her 40s, was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge by air ambulance with serious injuries.

Tivetshall Road was closed for six hours as police made the scene safe and carried out initial inquiries.

District councillor Clayton Hudson was only a couple of cars in front of the Toyota prior to the accident.

“It was like driving on a sheet of ice,” he said. “We had a short shower at about 4.30am and that was followed by a freezing spell, which contributed to the difficult road conditions.”

Mr Hudson felt the road should have been gritted.

“The problem comes from the county council’s forecasting for gritting being done 12 hours in advance,” he said. “But if things like this happen in the county, it should be more proactive in getting gritting services out.”

Norfolk County Council confirmed Tivetshall Road had not been gritted prior to the collision.

The authority said a full investigation was being carried out and gave its condolences to everyone affected.

A council spokesman said: “The decision on whether to grit is based upon our specialist weather provider, which breaks the county down into seven different areas.

“The council’s policy is to treat when the forecast road surface temperatures fall below +0.5°C.

Road surface temperatures overnight on the night in question were only forecast to drop below +0.5°C in the west of the county.”

Anyone with information on the collision is asked to call 101 or email sciu@norfolk.police.uk, quoting incident reference 41 of January 2.