Recurring concern

Unreliable winter road maintenance response

First to latest report 3 Apr 2014 — 21 Jul 2016

Reports that mention this concern
2
Times this concern has been raised
5
Stated actions linked to this concern
7

What this concern includes

Includes failures in the dedicated winter road maintenance process, including policy requirements, weather and road-condition monitoring, information sharing, decision-making, deployment, reassessment and timely gritting or salting in response to changing hazardous conditions.

What is not included
  • Excludes general highway maintenance, inspection, hazard-reporting or remedial-work failures where winter maintenance response is not the identified unsafe condition.
  • Excludes ordinary road collisions, slippery-road hazards or adverse weather where no deficiency in the winter road maintenance process is identified.
  • Excludes generic inter-agency information-sharing or decision-making deficiencies unless they directly concern winter road maintenance decisions or deployment.
  • Excludes vehicle, driver, road-design and permanent road-infrastructure deficiencies unrelated to winter maintenance response.

Reports and published responses 2 reports

See individual reports that have raised this concern, and the actions taken in response

  1. County Durham and Darlington

    AI-generated summary

    Nathan Luke Charman · Prevention of Future Deaths report

    This summary was generated using AI from the published report. Please read the original report for the complete account.

    Report summary

    Nathan Luke Charman died on 5 March 2016 after his car left an untreated, icy road, hit a tree and rolled. The report identified concerns that winter maintenance policy and decision-making did not account for extreme local or changing road conditions, and that the incident had not prompted formal review, learning or information sharing.

    Read the report on judiciary.uk

    Source evidence

    How this individual concern was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Failure of winter road maintenance policy and decision-making processes to accommodate local extreme variations in road conditions

    Wider context from the report

    “1. The decision by the Highway Services Manager followed the policy and applied the weather forecast. The unsafe road conditions were the incident occurred were restricted to that immediate locality. However, neither the policy nor the decision making process accommodated the possibility of extreme variations in road conditions or the existence of what the Police identified as “microclimatic” conditions at particular points and “extreme and freakish” conditions that led directly to this death. ”

    Source location

    Nathan Luke Charman · Prevention of Future Deaths report
    Page 2 · concerns

    Open source report

    Source evidence

    How this individual concern was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Lack of formal review of winter maintenance decision-making process and policy

    Wider context from the report

    “3. The evidence of the Highway Services Manager was that this incident has not prompted a formal review of the decision making process or the policy in the light of this incident, or any form of formal learning or information sharing in and by Technical Services Management Team. ”

    Source location

    Nathan Luke Charman · Prevention of Future Deaths report
    Page 2 · concerns

    Open source report

    Source evidence

    How this individual concern was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Winter maintenance policy failing to provide for changing conditions between maintenance decisions

    Wider context from the report

    “2. The winter maintenance policy does not provide for variations in conditions during the time between decisions being made concerning winter maintenance action. ”

    Source location

    Nathan Luke Charman · Prevention of Future Deaths report
    Page 2 · concerns

    Open source report

    Source evidence

    How this respondent action was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Reassign gritting route 28 from the Central to the Low Pennines weather forecasting domain.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “As part of this review we examined the accuracy of the weather forecast with MeteoGroup and they advised that gritting route 28 on which this incident occurred would be better aligned with the Low Pennines weather forecasting domain rather than the Central weather forecasting domain. This was implemented on Monday 7 March 2016.”

    Source location

    2016-0267-Response-by-Durham-County-Council
    Page 3 · response
    Published 21 July 2016

    Open published response

    Source evidence

    How this respondent action was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Test all assumptions in the Winter Maintenance Operational Plan to confirm that they remain valid.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “All the assumptions within the Winter Maintenance Operational Plan have been tested to ensure that they remain valid.”

    Source location

    2016-0267-Response-by-Durham-County-Council
    Page 3 · response
    Published 21 July 2016

    Open published response

    Source evidence

    How this respondent position was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Existing winter maintenance procedures provide robust arrangements for responding to variations in weather conditions in accordance with the national Code.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “1.6 Winter Maintenance Duty Managers (WMDMs) will ensure that appropriate action is taken and will at all times ensure that the safety of the highway network is the paramount consideration. Should there be any doubt with regards to the decision making process, the WMDM will always take a safety first approach and ensure the appropriate resource is in place to respond to changing conditions as quickly as is practicable.”

    Source location

    2016-0267-Response-by-Durham-County-Council
    Page 3 · response
    Published 21 July 2016

    Open published response

  2. County Durham and Darlington

    AI-generated summary

    MELVIN BANDTOCK · Prevention of Future Deaths report

    This summary was generated using AI from the published report. Please read the original report for the complete account.

    Report summary

    MELVIN BANDTOCK, aged 55, died after losing control of his motorcycle on black ice and colliding with an oncoming bus on 28 December 2013. The road had not been treated under the local authority’s gritting or salting regime. Concerns included information sharing between Durham Constabulary and the local authority and reviewing procedures to ensure a timely and proportionate response to potentially dangerous road conditions.

    Read the report on judiciary.uk

    Source evidence

    How this individual concern was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Lack of collective information sharing between police and the local authority

    Wider context from the report

    “Evidence was given that 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. On the day in question the Duty Manager believed that weather temperatures would increase in a relatively short period of time whereas in reality they did not do so. There were a high number of collision incidents reported to the police that morning some of which resulted in report being made to the County Council. Some gritting/salting vehicles were deployed. It will take about an hour for gritting/salting lorries to be able to commence their work and a route would take up to three hours to complete. The time that it therefore takes to complete a gritting/salting run is a factor which is considered by the Duty Manager on the question of whether to deploy or not in conjunction with the weather condition reports and as a result of information gleaned from road temperature monitoring. It was said that this procedure had been in place for many years and was tried and tested. A Regulation 28 report is being sent to Durham Constabulary and a copy provided to the local authority herewith and the evidence indicates that 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 to ensure that a timely and proportionate response to potentially dangerous road conditions can be delivered to promote the safety of all road users. The Highways Manager indicated that with the information that the Duty Manager had following receipt of the 6.00 a.m. weather report his decision not to deploy gritting/salting vehicles was a reasonable one but that with the benefit of hindsight knowing what happened with regard to ambient temperature conditions and incidents around the County on the road network this decision was regrettable. I confirmed that it was not my intention to blame or be seen to blame any individual for the death in this case but it was my statutory obligation to draw to the appropriate authorities attention relevant issues that might be appropriate to prevent future deaths. I also recognised that English weather can be unpredictable. ”

    Source location

    MELVIN BANDTOCK · Prevention of Future Deaths report
    Page 1 · concerns

    Open source report

    Source evidence

    How this individual concern was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the report wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Failure of County Council practices and procedures to ensure a timely and proportionate response to potentially dangerous road conditions

    Wider context from the report

    “Evidence was given that 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. On the day in question the Duty Manager believed that weather temperatures would increase in a relatively short period of time whereas in reality they did not do so. There were a high number of collision incidents reported to the police that morning some of which resulted in report being made to the County Council. Some gritting/salting vehicles were deployed. It will take about an hour for gritting/salting lorries to be able to commence their work and a route would take up to three hours to complete. The time that it therefore takes to complete a gritting/salting run is a factor which is considered by the Duty Manager on the question of whether to deploy or not in conjunction with the weather condition reports and as a result of information gleaned from road temperature monitoring. It was said that this procedure had been in place for many years and was tried and tested. A Regulation 28 report is being sent to Durham Constabulary and a copy provided to the local authority herewith and the evidence indicates that 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 to ensure that a timely and proportionate response to potentially dangerous road conditions can be delivered to promote the safety of all road users. The Highways Manager indicated that with the information that the Duty Manager had following receipt of the 6.00 a.m. weather report his decision not to deploy gritting/salting vehicles was a reasonable one but that with the benefit of hindsight knowing what happened with regard to ambient temperature conditions and incidents around the County on the road network this decision was regrettable. I confirmed that it was not my intention to blame or be seen to blame any individual for the death in this case but it was my statutory obligation to draw to the appropriate authorities attention relevant issues that might be appropriate to prevent future deaths. I also recognised that English weather can be unpredictable. ”

    Source location

    MELVIN BANDTOCK · Prevention of Future Deaths report
    Page 1 · concerns

    Open source report

    Source evidence

    How this respondent action was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Review information-sharing protocols with Durham Constabulary to identify improvements.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “Sharing of Information Following receipt of your letter we met with Durham Constabulary on 29th April 2014 to review existing information sharing protocols and to identify how these could be improved.”

    Source location

    2014-0147-Response-by-Durham-County-Council
    Page 2 · response
    Published 3 April 2014

    Open published response

    Source evidence

    How this respondent action was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Require meaningful communication with weather forecasters when conditions are marginal or change, so revised actions can be implemented.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “We have reviewed our procedures and made a number of changes to improve the margin of safety against inaccurate weather forecasts and changing conditions:”

    Source location

    2014-0147-Response-by-Durham-County-Council
    Page 2 · response
    Published 3 April 2014

    Open published response

    Source evidence

    How this respondent action was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Deploy Duty Highway Inspectors on standby at strategic depots during specified low-confidence amber warnings to monitor forecasts and support decisions.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “Amber Warning In circumstances where weather forecasts indicate an amber warning less than or equal to 1°C, with low confidence, Duty Highway Inspectors will be deployed on standby at the key strategic depots for the purpose of monitoring forecast information and where appropriate undertaking a route inspection to assist the Duty Manager in the decision making process.”

    Source location

    2014-0147-Response-by-Durham-County-Council
    Page 2 · response
    Published 3 April 2014

    Open published response

    Source evidence

    How this respondent action was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Deploy winter maintenance vehicles on standby at strategic depots during specified low-confidence amber warnings for immediate gritting response.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “In circumstances where weather forecasts indicate an amber warning less than or equal to 1°C, with low confidence, winter maintenance vehicles will be deployed on standby at all strategic depots in readiness for gritting activity, therefore should weather conditions deteriorate from that forecast, an immediate gritting response can be implemented.”

    Source location

    2014-0147-Response-by-Durham-County-Council
    Page 3 · response
    Published 3 April 2014

    Open published response

    Source evidence

    How this respondent action was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Remind Duty Managers to prioritise highway-network safety and maintain appropriate resources for rapidly changing conditions.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “We have reviewed our procedures and made a number of changes to improve the margin of safety against inaccurate weather forecasts and changing conditions:”

    Source location

    2014-0147-Response-by-Durham-County-Council
    Page 2 · response
    Published 3 April 2014

    Open published response

    Source evidence

    How this respondent position was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Existing communication mechanisms and information-sharing protocols are considered effective for managing highways through partnership working.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “Sharing of Information Following receipt of your letter we met with Durham Constabulary on 29th April 2014 to review existing information sharing protocols and to identify how these could be improved.”

    Source location

    2014-0147-Response-by-Durham-County-Council
    Page 2 · response
    Published 3 April 2014

    Open published response

    Source evidence

    How this respondent position was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    The Constabulary disputes that road incident reporting was ad hoc or lacked supervisory oversight.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “The matter of concern by the Coroner for the Constabulary was that the process for contacting Durham County Council was done by an individual call handler on an ad hoc basis with no monitoring or supervision. There was also a concern that there was no oversight that might lead a supervisory officer to conclude a potentially serious situation was developing on the County’s roads. This is not the case for both issues.”

    Source location

    2014-0147-Response-by-Durham-Constabulary
    Page 1 · response
    Published 3 April 2014

    Open published response

    Source evidence

    How this respondent position was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Established procedures, supervision and communication arrangements with the Council are considered robust and fit for purpose.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “The dispatchers for that area would then deploy officers to the incident and contact Durham County Council as appropriate. There is also a dispatch pod (call sign LA) which deals with all highways issues for the County. Any incident which was affecting the road network would have a ‘highways’ tag placed on it and would be managed in conjunction with the area response. The LA dispatcher, having overall view of the County’s road network, would normally be the dispatcher who would contact the Council, should issues become apparent. This would be recorded on the incident log so the area dispatcher would know what had been done and what actions were being taken. The dispatch room is overseen by 2 supervisors and an inspector is on duty at all times to manage critical incidents and firearms deployments.”

    Source location

    2014-0147-Response-by-Durham-Constabulary
    Page 2 · response
    Published 3 April 2014

    Open published response

    Source evidence

    How this respondent position was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    The existing Winter Service Plan is considered effective and sufficient to meet the Council’s reasonably practicable highway safety duty.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “Statutory Duty Section 41(1)(a) of the Highways Act 1980 (c. 66) (duty of Highway Authority to maintain highway) states:”

    Source location

    2014-0147-Response-by-Durham-County-Council
    Page 1 · response
    Published 3 April 2014

    Open published response

    Source evidence

    How this respondent position was interpreted

    PFD Monitor created a concise, searchable interpretation from the published response wording shown below.

    PFD Monitor interpretation

    Snow and ice risks cannot be completely eliminated because forecasting and salting effectiveness depend on uncertain weather and traffic conditions.

    Verbatim wording from the response

    “However, winter maintenance is not an exact science and the decision to deploy gritters for precautionary salting relies upon weather forecasts and professional judgement. Whilst weather forecasting has greatly improved in recent years it is not 100% accurate and the actual weather conditions on 28 December 2013 were worse than forecast which was a significant factor in this accident.”

    Source location

    2014-0147-Response-by-Durham-County-Council
    Page 1 · response
    Published 3 April 2014

    Open published response

Actions and positions describe what organisations say in published responses. Implementation is not independently verified.

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Data last updated 7 September 2026