A DRIVER feared his car could have been “cut in half” in a crash caused by a treacherous patch of black ice. The accident happened on the same morning that another driver said he could have been impaled after skidding on black ice.

The 63-year-old man, who did not want to be named, hit black ice just outside Hallow, by the junction with Dark Lane, but council bosses say they gritted the road the night before the accident and on the morning it happened with the maximum amount of salt.

The driver lost control of his Ford Focus during an accident which involved two other vehicles as he drove north on the A443 at about 8.15am on Tuesday, January 15, and ploughed into the back of another driver, ending up on the grass.

He said if he had hit a sign at the side of the road, “it could have cut the car in half”. A motorcyclist behind him came off his bike, but managed to avoid going into the back of the Focus.

The driver said: “I put on my brakes and I slid into the back of the other vehicle, a woman taking a child to school. It could have been disastrous.

“I was very shaken up. I’ve been driving that road for 19 years but now I’m quite dubious about it. I wasn’t able to control the vehicle.

“Only after my accident happened did they come and grit the road, while the police were there. The following day they put up ice signs.

“It seems to me the west side (of the river Severn) isn’t getting any attention. We’re the poor relations. You’re going to end up with a pretty serious accident.”

The crash caused about £7,000 damage to the vehicle. The driver said he had used the road for 18 years but had never had an accident before.

“There has been a problem with this road for some years. It is not well-maintained,” he said.

The accident happened on the same day and at a similar spot to where 43-year-old Marlon Topliss span his Hyundai Amica.

We have already reported that Mr Topliss feared he would be “impaled” when his car crashed into a fence between 5am and 6am that morning.

Jon Fraser, Worcestershire County Council’s highways manager, said: “The A443 was treated with 20g/sq m of salt (our maximum spread rate) between 6.30pm and 11pm on Monday, January 14, in preparation for the forecasted low temperatures overnight and again on the morning of Tuesday, January 15.”

Council bosses blamed the black ice on water coming from a manhole cover and running onto the road.