A MOTORCYCLIST who skidded on a county road is pressing for a change of highway policy to prevent similar accidents in future.

Andrew Lippitt, a 40-year-old former motorcycle instructor, escaped injury but did £300 damage to his Kawasaki KH250 motor bike when it skidded on granules put down to soak up spilt oil.

The accident happened at the Bell Lane crossroads at Crown East when Mr Lippitt braked before the junction after leaving Elgar's birthplace at Lower Broadheath.

"As I braked, the front wheel slipped away from me. The road was extremely slippery and it was difficult to pick the bike up because of the greasy surface," he said.

He reported this to Worcestershire County Council and found that an accident involving an oil spillage had happened at the same place the day before. On the instructions of the county highways department, absorbent clay granules had been spread on the oil by Raynesway Construction Southern (RCS) and 'slippery road surface' signs had been put up.

"You are supposed to put these granules down, leave them for 20 minutes and then sweep them up to make the road surface safe," said Mr Lippitt, who is a member of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. "But RCS told me that they leave the granules down unless the council specifically tells them to take them away again. This policy seems to have been in existence for several years and I wonder how many other accidents might have happened because of it. I was not injured, but other people might not be so lucky."

Since the accident on June 23, he had still not received an assurance that the procedure had been changed, said Mr Lippitt, of Newbury, Berkshire.

"Now Worcestershire County Council has been told that there is a fundamental flaw in the procedure, why is nothing happening?"

A County Council spokesperson said: "We are reviewing highways maintenance policy at the present time. A report on the maintenance policy will be considered by the county council cabinet today."