City of York Council must learn lessons over its road gritting policy following the death of a Securicor worker, the York coroner has warned.

York coroner's court heard yesterday how 42-year-old Christopher Farrell, of Mancroft, Haxby, died when the Ford Transit van he was travelling in skidded out of control on an icy road and crashed into a lorry.

The accident was just one of scores caused by the bad weather on the same day last winter, including one involving a van that ended up skidding on to the York to Harrogate Railway line.

The court heard how, at about 10.15am on January 4 last year, Philip Scanlon was driving the Transit on the A1237 York ring road between Copmanthorpe and Rufforth when he skidded on black ice. The road had not been gritted since the afternoon before the crash. The van veered off in to the opposite carriageway and into the path of an oncoming Volvo HGV carrying a load of sugar beet before "bouncing off" into a field. The HGV driver was unhurt and Mr Scanlon was taken to York Hospital suffering from chest injuries.

Mr Farrell was also taken to York Hospital, but doctors were unable to revive him.

A post-mortem examination revealed he had died from multiple injuries.

Mr Scanlon told the court he could not have been driving at more than 30mph at the time.

The court heard it could have been that Mr Scanlon caught the brakes causing him to skid on the ice and once he had lost control it was impossible to rectify the situation.

Coroner Donald Coverdale said the primary cause of the accident was the poor road conditions and that although the road had been gritted on the afternoon of January 3 it had not been gritted since.

He said there were "some lessons to be learnt from this terrible road traffic accident."

He said with surface temperatures on the road of -3C "a more substantial application" of grit could have been considered.

He recorded a verdict of accidental death.

A spokeswoman for City of York Council said: "Obviously, the decision of whether to grit is based on existing and predicted weather conditions and is not an exact science.

"However, the gritting team is very experienced and monitors the weather using state-of-the-art systems to react to possible changes in conditions."

Mr Farrell's widow, Sarah, said she was not considering legal action against the council at this point and declined to comment further.

Updated: 10:35 Thursday, September 02, 2004