GRITTERS stepped up their efforts to clear icy pavements and side roads in York today as pedestrians came a cropper in treacherous conditions.

Ambulance chiefs said a woman was taken to York Hospital with a fractured wrist after slipping on ice in Holgate Road, and a pedestrian suffered an injured ankle after falling in Birker Lane, Wilberfoss. Two pedestrians also suffered fractures after slipping in Harrogate.

York Hospital dealt with more fractures than normal yesterday, but managers expect the worst problems to arise as the thaw sets in and some elderly people venture out for the first time.

Weathermen say such a thaw is looming after one more night of frost tonight, with mild, wet and windy weather expected over the weekend.

Some residents were still complaining today about gritting operations by City of York Council.

Tim Staddon complained that in North Lane, Huntington, he came close to skidding straight onto a roundabout, while Robert Smith said he walked with a stick and had fallen six times on ice in 24 hours.

The council said gritting teams were able to concentrate their efforts today on side roads and pavements after main roads were cleared of snow and ice.

Bill Woolley, assistant director, environment and development, said: "Work on this will continue throughout the day. This should go some way to shifting the compacted ice, which has built up.

"All the priority one and two pavements were manually gritted again this morning, and this process will also be extended to cover footpaths and cycle tracks in other areas of the city throughout the rest of the day."

Rural areas were still worst hit by the weather, with snow blocking the A169 Pickering to Fylingdales road and A166 at Garrowby Hill this morning.

A 78-year-old man was killed when his Land Rover left a bend on a snow-covered private road at Raven Thorpe Manor, near Thirsk, and rolled over at 1.20 pm yesterday.

The driver who died when his 53-seater coach crashed on the treacherously icy B1248 Tibthorpe-Wetwang road in East Yorkshire on Tuesday has been named as Kevin Wilkinson, 27, of Strathmore Avenue, Hull, whose wife is pregnant.

Meanwhile, almost 1,000 homes were without power for hours yesterday in Kirkbymoorside and surrounding villages after the severe weather conditions caused a fault in overhead electricity cables.

Updated: 14:06 Thursday, January 29, 2004