Road was not gritted before crashes, says council

An investigation has found that a road was not gritted the night before four crashes, a council says.

Cambridgeshire County Council said it launched an investigation after the collisions on Forty Foot Bank near Chatteris on 21 November.

The council said contractor M Group Highways had "failed to grit a section of the gritting route" on the 20 November, despite initially informing the council that it had been treated.

A spokesperson for the contractor said: "M Group Highways offers an unreserved apology to those affected by this operational error."

The county council said the contractor had "accepted full responsibility for this failure" and that it would not pay for the work on that date.

"We continue to look for ways for how our service and delivery can be improved and we will take corrective action once our investigation has concluded," said an M Group Highways spokesperson.

The council said it was taking the "failure absolutely seriously" and asked for a full report to ensure it did not happen again.

"We won't be paying for the work on that date and we're looking at further penalties we can apply," a county council spokesperson said.

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