Last updated on August 18th, 2015 at 12:18 pm

Having dropped 2 of his children off at school Mr Foster drove his partner and his 11 month old son back home, travelling along Pilsey Road in Danesmore, a road he used often.  A fairly busy road, today was no different – apart from one thing – black ice!  Applying his breaks going down the hill, Mr Foster’s car simply wouldn’t stop and after a terrifying few moments as the car picked up speed, narrowly missing other cars, a pedestrian and a head on collision with a car coming in the other direction, the car ended up in a tree up an embankment at the bottom of the road.

Mr Foster’s partner and their baby were uninjured, though badly shaken of course, but he was suffering searing pain in his knee, after having hit it on the dashboard – and the car was a complete mess.

Several other cars were also stuck on the road, clearly having stopped wherever the ice had taken them.  The police had already been called, but fairly certain that someone would end up getting killed if something was not done quickly, Mr Foster’s partner and another lady stood at the top of the hill to warn other drivers.

Mr Foster had been out early that morning and the roads elsewhere seemed fine, so he was surprised by the ice, but others said this road was prone to flooding as the drains and gullies kept getting blocked.  The police told DCC to grit the road when they arrived.

The knee ligament damage that Mr Foster sustained meant he had to wear a knee brace for 6 weeks severely disrupting his life and that of his family.  Used to taking an active part in looking after his children, he found that his partner had to look after him for several weeks. Even after a year, Mr Foster’s knee still collapses occasionally.

Feeling that he was owed some redress from DCC, Mr Foster contacted Chesterfield solicitors, Graysons WE and personal injury specialist, Lucy Flynn, made a claim against the council.  Despite strongly disputing fault at first, in May 2011, Lucy has finally negotiated a settlement from the council for Mr Foster, who is delighted with the outcome of his case.  However, he says that he hopes that DCC realises how lucky it is that the consequences of not maintaining the drains and treating the road properly were not more serious and that it takes action to ensure that it can’t happen again.