COUNCIL chiefs are facing calls to improve road maintenance after a young mother survived a crash which saw her aqua-plane into a ditch.

Care assistant Elizabeth Perry, 26, was driving from Llanilar to Llanfarian on the A485 when she hit a stream of water running across the road and lost control of her silver Honda Jazz.

Speaking to the Cambrian News this week, Ms Perry’s father Mark said his daughter was lucky to be alive after her car spun out and crossed the road, ending up in a ditch backwards with a only a few trees saving her from the 20ft drop below.

“When she phoned me up, I couldn’t believe it. She was upset and said she was trapped in the car and couldn’t get out,” said Mr Perry.

“If there was something coming the other way, she might not have survived. She got very lucky.

“Elizabeth had just dropped her six-year-old daughter, my granddaughter, off in a friend’s house in Llanilar.

“It was very scary. My heart was in my mouth as soon as I saw it.”

Mr Perry, from Llanafan, has hit out at Ceredigion County Council, claiming its failure to clear out drainage on busy roads is endangering lives.

“There have been so many times where I have been coming home along that road from work and there has been a lot of standing water. The drainage does not clear it away.”

See the full story in this week’s Aberystwyth edition