Five cars crash on black ice after Aylesbury road closed signs removed

Broughton Lane was likely to be closed for some time because of flooding, police warned

Five cars crashed after sliding on black ice on a closed road.

Police said Broughton Lane in Aylesbury had been closed "due to the current lake in the middle of it", but the council's road closure signs were removed by drivers.

Officers said five vehicles were damaged as well as a resident's home in the crashes on Monday.

Thames Valley Police said the signs were put back but promptly ignored by 30 drivers, who were all reported.

Officers said Buckinghamshire Council's highways staff told them Broughton Lane had been closed because of the "lake" and was likely to remain closed for some time.

Writing on Facebook, police said: "They also stated that despite placing road closed signs up to prevent injury or damage, people persisted in moving these signs, preventing others from seeing them.

"These inconsiderate and selfish actions have caused five people to crash their vehicles as they did not know the road was closed."

Once the signs were put back, police said they thought that would be "an end of the matter".

They continued: "Less than 20 seconds after putting the signs back up, some more very silly drivers thought it was necessary to ignore the very clear signs and drive on the wrong side of the road to go around the road closure."

Police pulled the drivers over to "discuss the finer points of road safety" when "a flurry of cars also decided the signs were optional, leading to officers speaking to a further 30 vehicles".

The licence plates of a number of other cars whose drivers made "a sneaky turn around" after spotting officers were also taken down, they said.

"All drivers of these vehicles will be receiving a notice of intended prosecution... for careless driving," they added.