A government warning said that anyone travelling in icy conditions should take a shovel, blankets or sleeping bag, extra clothing including a scarf hat and gloves. Also a 24 hour supply of food and drink, a de-icer , rock salt, torch & spare batteries. In addition they should take a Safety triangle, tow rope , petrol can, first aid kit & jump leads... I felt a right prat on the bus this morning!

I ride to work on a motorbike. This is my choice due to the volume of traffic I encounter on my daily commute. Now that the weather is doing its cold thing, the car park at work has become an ice rink. The car park has no public access. There is a small amount of gritting which is predominantly on footpaths. However, the main car park is left untouched and dangerous in a car, never mind on a bike. It is necessary to cross the car park to access other parts of the facility and people need to get from their cars to these gritted areas on untreated ground. I know that places of work have a duty of care to their employees, but I am not an employee; I am a long term on-site contractor (if that makes any difference). I have contacted the H&S dept to highlight my concerns, but I've been knocked back with statements along the lines that they are doing employees a favour by gritting the areas that they do. I was also informed that I have a care of duty to myself and that I should not come to work on a motorbike on such days! I will point out that this is not a small company and that the gritting is done as an apparent favour by Security which is not part of their T&C which suggests to me that this company doesn’t have a proper strategy for dealing with the icy conditions. So, to my point. If I was now to slip off my bike whilst on-site, who would be liable now that I have bought this issue to their attention? I ask because I feel that there is a very real possibility of it happening and I want to know my legal position.