The dead man's family claimed roads had not been adequately gritted

Mr Justice Newman's comments came as he dismissed a compensation claim by the family of a Bedfordshire man who was killed on an icy road near Turvey eight years ago.

Peter Sandhar's family took the Department of Transport to the High Court, claiming that it failed to adequately grit the road.

Mr Sandhar, of Great Lane, Clophill, was 37 when he died in a crash on a bend on the A428 early one morning, just before Christmas in 1996.

No legal duty

His family sued the government for �500,000 on the grounds that it negligently failed to arrange the salting of the road.

Gritting is done by Bedfordshire County Council on behalf of the Department of Transport.

At the High Court, the judge said there had been serious shortcomings in the performance of the county council when tested against the Trunk Roads Maintenance Manual.

But he dismissed the family's claim because, as the law now stands, there was no legal duty to compensate them.

Even if there had been, he said Mr Sandhar would have been partially to blame for driving too fast in icy conditions.