Roads plea after spate of crashes

The freezing weather is set to continue into next week in Oxfordshire

Emergency services in Oxfordshire have urged people to be extra careful on the county's roads following a spate of crashes, as icy conditions persist.

Two people were taken to hospital after a crash on the A420 in Oxford, near the Botley interchange, on Saturday.

A car left the road and fell into a ditch. It followed a separate accident on the same stretch of road.

The freezing weather is set to continue in southern England into Monday, especially in hilly areas.

Rodney Rose, who is in charge of roads at Oxfordshire County Council, said some routes were becoming less treacherous but people still needed to take care.

I was out yesterday and people were driving far too close to each other Rodney Rose BBC Oxfordshire - snow information

"It seems to be warming up a little bit which will help the salt work on the major roads.

"It's a matter of being very careful.

"I was out yesterday and people were driving far too close to each other.

"You've got to imagine the car in front of you doing a spin right in front of you and imagine how long you're going to take to stop until you get to it."

Assistant Chief Fire Officer in Oxfordshire Colin Thomas said the fire service had seen people driving "far, far too fast".

"I know that the police are incredibly concerned about this and I think that we all need to take responsibility, not just for ourselves, but for other people as well."

People were also being warned to keep off frozen lakes, ponds and rivers across the county, after police received "numerous" reports on Saturday of children and adults on frozen water.

The cold weather is expected to continue into next week Warning to keep off frozen lakes In Pictures: Oxfordshire snow

In Banbury, officers said they had been called out to several incidents in the past few days after people were seen attempting to walk on the frozen canal.

They said there was no way of knowing how solid or thick the ice was.

In one incident children were seen walking 20ft out into the middle of the canal.

Snowploughs and gritting teams remained out on main routes over the weekend but were keeping back some supplies of salt to try to make them last.

The council said only 29% of the road network was being treated because of increasing restrictions on national supplies to local authorities.

The county is not currently a priority to take more deliveries.

More than 30 farmers are helping with snow ploughing, with the council saying their help was "one of the main reasons that routes to the large majority of villages are now passable".

Exam boards said examinations scheduled for next week were going ahead as planned in Oxfordshire.

The county council added it was doing all it could to ensure pupils could get to schools to sit exams.

Parents were being urged to listen to local radio to get the latest information on school closures or to check council websites.

Hundreds of schools were closed across Oxfordshire last week after up to 28cm (11in) of snow fell.

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