February 16, 2001 10:01: A POLICEMAN says the county council acted appallingly, claiming it initially refused to grit roads in the wake of an eight-car pile-up.

The pile-up began when a single vehicle slid into a ditch in the early hours of Wednesday morning on the A4010 Bradenham Road, in conditions that PC Dominic Found described as being "like an ice rink".

He said eight cars slid into each other over a period of about half an hour, with even the police car not escaping undamaged.

PC Found, who attended the accident just before 6am, claims Buckinghamshire County Council initially refused to come out but agreed after getting a second call from the police.

He added: "The road was like an ice-rink. Other cars then coming round saw the blue lights, put on their brakes and skidded on the ice. One car went into the police car.

"I was surprised no one was seriously injured. The council acted appallingly."

PC Found called the police control room at 5.51am but gritters did not arrive on the scene until 7.30am.

A council spokesman said the police request was not refused and actioned immediately. He added that gritters had also been out to the road at 7pm the previous day.

"We have a close relationship with Thames Valley Police and whenever they request gritters to go to a scene we will do that as a priority," he said. "However, it took longer than we would have hoped for us to get on to the site."

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: "Officers were understandably concerned of the dangers on the road caused by sheet ice."

One man was taken to Wycombe Hospital with minor injuries.

The incident happened near the railway bridge on the notorious Bradenham Road, where teenager Emma Taylor was killed in 1998 after her Ford Fiesta smashed into the bridge. County council figures show there have been 53 accidents on that road between 1990 and 2000.