A van skidded on ice and crashed through a brick wall just hours after residents warned police and the council the road had become a "skating rink".

The smash, in Albion Road, Benfleet, comes after Castle Point Council leader Dave Wells criticised Essex County Council contractors for failing to make roads safe.

Wrecked - the van slid and demolished the garden wall

The accident happened at 8pm yesterday. The van went through a garden wall narrowly missing the front door of a house.

Many residents became concerned the day before when bad weather began to bite and roads became impassable.

Terrence Wind, of Albion Road, said he alerted the council and police to the danger in the road and telling them it needed to be gritted. He claims nothing was done.

He said: "It's a well used road and a kind of rat-run that has become a death-run.

"With young children walking to school along the road, someone stands to be killed if the ice remains. I phoned police and told them is was an emergency, a few hours later I heard a loud bang and saw the van had slid through the wall."

The driver of the van, Benfleet electrician Frank Harwood, was not injured in the accident but has been left with a £500 excess on the insurance of his company's vehicle.

He said: "I was doing about 10mph when I slid and burst through the brick wall - through to the front door."

Benfleet police said they attempted to dispatch patrols where residents had identified danger on the roads, but had seen resources stretched through the large number of iced roads in the area.

A spokesman for Essex County Council said resources limited its action.

Published Friday, January 10, 2003

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