TWO Gwent motorists involved in crashes within minutes of each other at the same bend over the weekend are warning people about black ice on the roads.

Both Charlie Oliver and Greg Mitchell’s vehicles have been written-off after losing control on the same spot of ice by a bend on Saturday evening near Trinant in Caerphilly borough, which they believe happened because of water running down the hill from residents washing their cars.

The pair got caught out within 20 minutes of each other where Trinant Terrace and Pentwyn Terrace join together, with Miss Oliver’s Fiat Punto car ending up on its side before Mr Mitchell’s Honda Arfika Twin motorbike careered off the road.

Both were taken to Nevill Hall Hospital and Mr Mitchell has a broken thumb and torn tendons and in his legs.

Miss Oliver, 19, of Belvedere Close, said: “I feel lucky to be alive really and I just have a sore back somehow. I had only had my car a week and as I was driving around the corner I lost control on the ice and before I knew it I was going backwards, hit the bushes and it slid down the hill on its side.

“I had to be dragged out as I was in such shock. I think the lack of grit on the road is a joke, I didn’t see any on a steep hill with ice and then someone told me the gritters came out much later.”

The incident happened at around 6.15pm just before Mr Mitchell crashed travelling around the corner in the opposite direction. Both are appealing for more grit to be put down on local roads and for people to consider the impact of water icing over on roads in Gwent.

Mr Mitchell, 28, said: “I was driving to my mums just before work to check some things as I’ve recently moved but I never got there as I hit the ice and got thrown off the bike before ending up in the bushes.

“There was a guy washing his car nearby earlier that afternoon and where it’s on a slope the water must have trickled down and frozen as I didn’t experience any bad ice anywhere else. It’s going to cost me more than £800 to get repaired and I may be unable to work for up to seven weeks, people need to be more careful and aware of what they’re doing.”

A Welsh Ambulance Service rapid response vehicle and an ambulance attended the scene after a couple stopped to help the factory worker.

An ambulance service spokesman said: “We were called at about 6.30pm on Saturday January 21 to reports of a road traffic collision involving a motorbike on Pentwyn Terrace.

“We sent a paramedic in a rapid response vehicle and a crew in an emergency ambulance to the scene, who provided treatment before the patient made his own way to hospital.”

A Caerphilly County Borough Council spokeswoman said: “As the temperatures dropped over the weekend, our fleet of gritting vehicles were hard at work across the entire network in line with forecast conditions.”

If you have any information on this incident, call Gwent Police stating log number 30821117 or 33223117.