A DRIVER said part of the A40 was covered in 'sheet ice' on Saturday morning, after a crash prompted the road's closure.

The westbound road was shut for several hours between the B4022 (Oxford Hill) and Ducklington Lane, after an early morning collision. 

Dangerous conditions were reported due to ice on the road, and it is thought there might have been more than one crash. 

A witness on social media said four cars were involved, though this has not yet been confirmed by emergency services.

Another driver, Woodstock resident Simon Mitchell, passed the initial crash at about 7.50am.

He said: "One car had smashed into the middle reservation.

"A police car was there on the inside lane, so vehicles had to go in the outside lane.

"I had my brakes on fully but didn't slow down: it was complete sheet ice in the outside lane. I was slipping around the whole way - I was lucky I didn't crash. 

"There must have been another accident after we passed. It was slightly on a bend and you just hit sheet ice.

"It [the ice] wasn't obvious - the inside lane was fine. I expected more cars to crash immediately after as nobody was able to brake."

The Met Office has not issued a weather warning for ice in Oxfordshire this weekend.

But, according to the forecaster's log for Witney, temperatures in the town did dip below freezing in the early hours of Saturday morning. 

Drivers were reporting 'standstill' queues at 9am, but queues were beginning to ease by 10.30am. 

South Central Ambulance Service has not yet confirmed if anyone was injured.

Oxford Mail:

Traffic on the A40 near Witney at 9.30am. Image from Google Maps/ The AA

On Monday a car veered off the A40 westbound near Witney due to icy conditions on the road.

Both Mr Mitchell and Oxford Mail commenters online raised concerns about gritting on the A40, where a car also skidded into a ditch last Monday.

One reader said that same stretch of road had been like ‘a mirror’ with ice that day, while another said they witnessed four separate crashes last week. 

Oxfordshire County Council tweeted on Saturday that gritters would be out in force that day.

It confirmed that gritters were sent out at the following times:

The gritters were out:

  • 6pm on Friday
  • 11:30am on Saturday
  • 2am on Sunday
  • 8pm on Sunday

County council spokesman Paul Smith said: “Gritting helps in icy conditions. However it is not a guarantee that ice will not form or an antidote to winter.

"Driving conditions when temperatures have dipped below freezing do not return to those experienced in mid-July just because the gritters have been out.

"We’d therefore ask people to drive to the conditions and that also applies when the gritters have been out. As they had been on four occasions over the weekend.”

Between last Sunday and Wednesday, county council gritters salted 8,000 miles of roads.