Baby death prompts call to report icy roads

A coroner has called for more publicity on how to report icy road conditions after a baby was killed in a crash.

Seven-month-old Ayan Sediqi died after the vehicle he was travelling in left the road after skidding on a patch of ice and hitting a tree on the A1 south of Grantham, Lincolnshire in January 2025.

An inquest heard a blocked drainage pipe had caused water to freeze on the carriageway.

Greater Lincolnshire coroner Jayne Wilkes has written to Lincolnshire County Council, National Highways and Lincolnshire Police saying there was "a lack of public awareness as to who, where and how motorists should report circumstances which present a risk of immediate danger to road users".

In her Prevention of Future Deaths report, the coroner said, following a media appeal by Lincolnshire Police, a number of drivers contacted the force describing "how they had skidded on ice at this location, or that they had witnessed other vehicles skidding on the ice at the same spot".

Wilkes said the "road did not appear to have been gritted".

During the inquest into Ayan's death, National Highways, Lincolnshire County Council and Lincolnshire Police all said there had been no reports made to them about ice on the road on the day of the crash or in the period two months before.

Ayan died of his injuries in hospital the next day and a woman in the car suffered serious injuries.

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