Anger at council over black ice injuries

struggling on the walkways onWednesday.

One pensioner, who had travelled into Perth from St Madoes, took to walking on the road, considering it the only safe place to be as she walked over the Queen’s Bridge.

Ella Tulloch was making her way to the gym but put in more of a workout just getting there, telling the PA she almost broke her wrist as she grabbed a rail to steady herself when she slipped.

She said:“My family are in Australia so if anything happened to me I would be stuck. I almost broke my wrist grabbing a rail as I slipped.

“It’s ridiculous. The council spend all that money on Christmas lights but don’t have enough money left for gritting.”

Families heading to school pushed prams gingerly, and held tightly onto the hands of small children - keen to make it there in one piece - with one mum calling the conditions “brutal.”

Another commuter heading to her work described the pavements as “lethal.”

James Glynn, who only lives a short 10-minute walk from his work in the city centre, opted to take the bus. He said: “I would rather pay the bus fare than take the risk.

“When I looked out of my window, I could see both pavements were shiny with the frost on Strathmore Street.

“It took me all my time just to get to the bus stop.”

James said he had noticed a difference in the pavements as he made his way up the hill from his work the previous night.

Another Perth resident said she too had taken to walking on the main road, braving the busy Crieff Road.

She said:“It was the only place that was gritted. I had to get to a hospital appointment and was holding on to railings.

“Once I got to the hospital grounds, it was all gritted. It was just all the pavements round about that weren’t.”

A spokesperson for NHS Tayside told us on Wednesday: “Due to the icy conditions, we have had a higher number than expected of people with fractures attending the A&E Department at Perth Royal Infirmary.”

Forecasters had predicted a major thaw from the freezing temperatures of Tuesday to Wednesday, but PKC insisted it had not been caught out by the unexpected prolonged dip in temperature early on Wednesday morning.

A spokesman for PKC said: “There has been no reduction in the plant or operatives from previous winters and our grit stock remain high with over 23,000 tonnes in stock.”

The spokesman acknowledged“there were challenges with ice on the footway network across Perth city early on Wednesday morning.”

The spokesman added: “Gritting was carried out, as usual, from 6.30am but the cold and wet weather meant that the ice remained for some time after the initial treatment.”