COUNCILS have been urged to grit town centres after a 79-year-old man broke his arm when he slipped in an icy subway.

Pensioner Tom Ashton fell while using the subway which links High Street with Church Street, in Blackburn town centre, on Friday afternoon.

Mr Ashton slipped on ice left over from the week's freezing conditions, which he said should have been gritted by Blackburn with Darwen Council.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, today urged councils and shops to think about gritting areas near shops.

But the council said the well-used subway was not part of its gritting plans and it did not have the manpower to cover all areas.

Mr Ashton said: "The council should have gritted it, it's a very smooth path and it's dangerous. The path is used by a lot of people."

A council spokesman said: "Gritting staff were extremely busy with the onset of severe weather conditions last week and their work had to be prioritised. Unfortunately that meant that some areas such as the subway were not immediately gritted. If we had been informed of the accident we would have gone out and gritted it but the priority is to keep the roads moving and unfortunately it is just not possible to have people in every location. We simply don't have the staff." The spokesman added that a subway would not be immediate priority because "it is not expected to be so problematic" and the ice was eventually cleared away by the wet weather.

A spokesman for ROSPA said: "At this time of year, with the weather being so bad, people need to take extra care and the elderly need to be more vigilant than most. Supermarkets, along with the council, could also consider investing a few pounds gritting areas outside stores."

Mr Ashton, who was on his own at the time of the fall, said he was left badly shaken.

He said: "I was about halfway down when I went with a real bang, everything went dark for a minute and I was in agony."

After struggling to his feet Mr Ashton tried to telephone an ambulance but said the pain was unbearable.

He said: "I had a job getting up and then I couldn't use the phone box. I couldn't get the money out of my pocket because of the pain."

Passers-by took Mr Ashton, who is now being looked after by a family friend at his Blackburn home, to Morrisons supermarket where store first aid representatives tended to him before calling for an ambulance. He was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary where his arm was re-set.

Recovering at home Mr Ashton said: "I'm going through agony, I can't sleep. The path was covered in ice and the council should have gritted it."

A council spokesman added: "We wish Mr Ashton a speedy recovery from his accident."

Picture: Tom Ashton, of Sunnybank Road, Blackburn, suffered a broken arm when he slipped in the subway at Salford, in Blackburn town centre. Inset: a shopper struggles along the ice-covered subway

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