RESIDENTS of a South Lakeland village believe it is only a matter of time before someone gets hurt on a ‘lethal’ un-gritted street.

This week a motorist driving on North Road, Holme, lost control of their vehicle, apparently due to hazardous black ice, and collided with two cars, leaving all three vehicles badly damaged.

One of the cars, a Volkswagen Golf which was parked in the road, belonged to the Broadhurst family.

Jessica Broadhurst was about to head off to Preston where she is training to become a nurse, when the incident happened.

Her mother Karen is one of a number of villagers who want Cumbria County Council to begin gritting the street.

“This is the main route through the village and lots of cars use it,” said Karen. “It’s not a side street. It is used every day by children walking to school, which is on this road.

“The road is really, really unsafe. It is hard to get out of the village when it is icy. It is about three quarters of a mile long with houses either side all the way along.

“There are many residents here, there are young children, cats and so on. Anyone could easily get hurt. It is lethal and it’s the same every year. It is not a minor road - it is the main road in Holme.”

Fellow resident Vic Brown, who runs Tythebarn House B & B, said the collision was proof that action was needed.

“We anticipated that something like this might happen,” he said. “If conditions were to get worse, there is no reason why it couldn’t happen again.”

Mr Brown has collected more than 70 signatures from residents asking the council to add North Road to the gritting programme.

Those who signed it agreed that the un-gritted road caused problems for motorists and vehicles making deliveries to local shops.

They also believe it affects access to Holme Primary School and was dangerous for pedestrians crossing the road.

A county council spokesman confirmed North Road was not on the gritting network, although the B6834 between Holme and Milnthorpe and the A6 near the village were regularly gritted.

He added: “With more than 7,500 kilometres of road in the county, it is just not feasible to grit the entire network. Therefore some of the minor routes are not routinely gritted, but we have tried to increase the amount of salt available for self-help salt bins, which is available from our highways depots across the county.”

The spokesman said that the council had 24,589 tonnes of rock salt available, which was felt to be sufficient for the winter.