Jane Horrocks blames council for not gritting roads after breaking wrist
Jane Horrocks has broken a wrist after falling off her bicycle on black ice as she blamed her local council for failing to grit the roads properly.
The Absolutely Fabulous actress, 59, fell in Brighton on Wednesday morning, when temperatures sat at 1C.
She posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Thank you all for your well wishes. I have a broken wrist and bruised ribs, so not too bad in the grand scheme of things.
“So many people in A+E yesterday had fallen on black ice and there was quite a lot of anger towards Brighton and Hove City Council for not gritting the roads.”
On the council’s website, it says that they treat a total of 156 miles of “main routes” around the city “when weather conditions require it”.
According to Ms Horrocks, the area – which is now the subject of a yellow Met Office wet weather – has been the scene of a number of recent cyclist and weather-related accidents. After the accident, she said:
Just fallen off my bike on black ice in Brighton. In A+E now. It’s crazy busy. I haven’t experienced A+E for a very long time and it’s an eye opener. Be careful cyclists out there
— Jane Horrocks (@janehorrocks_) December 6, 2023
That morning, the Met Office said it would be a “frosty start” for many across the country as they warned that it would be “staying cold throughout” the day.
Ms Horrocks said that a “lovely couple” came to her assistance when she fell, bringing her a cup of tea and taking her home.
She also thanked the “lovely Scottish nurse” who plastered her arm when “all the other ‘plasterers’ had gone home”.
The actress, originally from Lancashire, now lives in Brighton following the end of her two-decade relationship with the writer Nick Vivian, with whom she has two children.
She has recently starred as an upper-class English expat in Christopher Hampton’s colonial-era drama The Singapore Grip as well as the lead character in the Sky paramedic comedy series Bloods.
The 59-year-old rose to global fame after the success of Ab Fab, but recently told The Telegraph that she found Hollywood “quite a lonely place to be”.
Trevor Muten, chairman of the council’s transport and sustainability committee, said: “We’re very sorry to hear that some people were injured slipping on ice on Tuesday night.
“Our gritters were in action across the city on Tuesday from late afternoon onwards.
“Unfortunately we cannot grit every single road in the city. We’re not aware of any councils in the country that do so.
“We grit around 156 miles of road around the city. We prioritise main A roads and most B roads, bus routes, links to schools and roads that lead to hospitals or are key for emergency services.
“We would always advise people to be very careful during icy periods, as even gritting cannot absolutely guarantee a road will be free of ice.
“Our gritting programme is routinely reviewed and we are keen to hear from local communities to inform planned gritting routes improvements.”