Drivers describe cycle death road

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Motorists who used a stretch of road where four cyclists were killed in a collision have told an inquest of icy conditions on the day of the tragedy.

Thomas Harland, 14, Maurice Broadbent, 61, Dave Horrocks, 55, and Wayne Wilkes, 42, were killed when a car skidded on ice near Abergele, Conwy.

One driver skidded on the A547 prior to the accident, the inquest heard.

And a former council worker told the jury he thought the road was in need of immediate gritting.

The four cyclists, who were members of the Rhyl Cycling Club died on the A547 not far from the start of a 60-mile (97km) Sunday club ride to Llandudno's Great Orme.

On the second day of the inquest at Abergele, the jury heard how drivers had passed police at the scene of an accident in which a car had left the road.

A former administrator in the highways department of the old Clwyd County Council told the inquest he felt the road was in immediate need of gritting.

On Monday, coroner for North East Wales, John Hughes, told the jury the route was not gritted by Conwy Council on the morning of 8 January 2006, despite frost having been forecast.

Drivers have recalled the icy conditions on the A547

Mr Hughes also said there had been another accident near the scene on the same morning, and the police had been in touch with the council about conditions on the road.

Two police officers contacted their control room after briefly losing control of their Ford Galaxy that morning, the inquest heard.

After the collision with the cyclists, motorist Robert Harris, 47, from Abergele, was fined £180 with £35 costs last August and given six points on his licence after admitting having defective tyres.

The court heard that the defective tyres were not a factor in the accident.

The inquest, which continues, is expected to last up to six weeks, and will hear from around 200 witnesses.