“I heard she had two toes amputated,” said a concerned Dundee mother who contacted the Tele.

“She was out at a party and was walking home because she couldn’t get a taxi. She was stumbling around in her high heels and decided to take them off to make it easier to walk. It was so icy underfoot that she ended up getting frostbite in her toes.”

Shobhan Thakore, NHS Tayside’s lead consultant in accident and emergency at Ninewells, said frostbite would develop within a short period when people walked barefoot in icy conditions.

The specialist was unable to comment on individual cases due to patient confidentiality, but was keen to warn young people to protect themselves against what could be the very serious consequences of walking barefoot in Arctic conditions.

“In a relatively short period of time, if you are walking barefoot on ice, you risk frostbite,” Mr Thakore said.

He said severe frostbite was “irreversible” and sufferers risked amputation.

“The first thing you would notice is a change in the colour of toes,” he said.

“Initially they go white and numb and then blue. The circulation to the toes is affected and the skin breaks down. In the worst-case scenario you would have to amputate the toes.”

Mrs Rona Archibald of Perth Street Pastors — who hand out flip-flops to party girls struggling with high heels — said there was evidence that young girls were starting to carry “sensible shoes” in case they had to walk home.

“I have seen people taking off their shoes in this cold weather and just walking on the pavement in their bare feet,” she said. “But some girls are going out with thick tights in this cold weather and are putting on more sensible flat shoes they can walk in. When I go out and about I suggest to everybody they bring comfortable shoes in their bag.

“It has occurred to some of the girls that it’s not a bad idea to have some comfortable shoes to put on when their high heels get uncomfortable.”

She said that while flip-flops were easy for the Street Pastors to slip in their pockets and offer to people who were unable to walk any further in high heels, it would be difficult to offer more substantial shoes that would offer some protection against frostbite. Not only were flip-flops easier to carry, they also did not require an exact match to the foot size, which would be the case for substantial shoes.

Meanwhile, the Lynch Sports Centre in Dundee reopened today after melting snow and ice on the roof flooded one of the halls yesterday.

The roof leak has been a problem for several years. In August, the city council blamed a lack of cash for failing to fix the fault.

Lochee Councillor Tom Ferguson said, “I am extremely concerned that people in Lochee continue to miss out on the use of this valuable community asset. However, it wouldn’t be safe to send anybody up on the roof in this weather, but I have asked for a fuller brief on the situation.”

A spokesman for Dundee City Council said, “We regret we have had to cancel some bookings yesterday because of water penetration in the roof caused by the snow and ice thawing out.”