Driving in snow becuase they don't want to grit

duggie · 03-02-2010, 19:04

Once again our fantastic council didn't bother gritting, result one hour from whitebirk to ossy, this snow was predicted and once again the council decided to put safety behind cost.
I suggest we all hold back on paying council tax until somebody sorts out these useless idiots

Neil · 03-02-2010, 19:06

You hold back first then

It is not just our Council. Same when I left work. M58 was snowy on the road, as was the M6 and M65

accyman · 03-02-2010, 19:13

the idiots were gritting last week when snow wasnt even forecast lol

Neil · 03-02-2010, 19:21

That must have been Sunday at 5.30am when the motorway was icy and a transit could not stop in the snow on the M6 and swerved through the traffic cones just missing a truck and the work men in the road.

I heard the bang as he hit the cone. Thought he was going to end up in the crash barrier.

accyman · 03-02-2010, 21:35

nope im refering to when the gritters were out and not one snowflake had dropped and it was raining

cmonstanley · 03-02-2010, 22:28

been out up here loads of snow

shillelagh · 03-02-2010, 22:37

spugs said it hadnt started snowing up there till after 9pm ....

Ken Moss · 04-02-2010, 06:57

The roads became very slippy fairly quickly in Rishton last night and I know that Haslingden and Rawtenstall also had fairly treacherous conditions. I'm reluctant to take another easy pop at the council as they can't be everywhere but with the conditions we got over Christmas I would have thought they'd have made some effort to stock up.

The majority of residential Hyndburn homes are on a hill and our grit bin has been empty since December. The country has at least three salt mines and none of them are in any danger of being mined out for some time. With the cost of grit at something like £30 per ton, a huge storage capacity in Hyndburn and a good three week period since the thaw there really is no excuse this time.

Boeing Guy · 04-02-2010, 07:08

I don't really want to stand up for our council, but it seems that this gritting business is not their job.
Highways - Highway Maintenance - Winter Service

Its all on Lancashire County Councils website, including Grit Bins

Ken Moss · 04-02-2010, 07:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boeing Guy

I don't really want to stand up for our council, but it seems that this gritting business is not their job.
Highways - Highway Maintenance - Winter Service

Its all on Lancashire County Councils website, including Grit Bins

You're half right. Major roads such as the motorways fall within the purview of LCC but many of the A and B roads are actually the responsibility of the borough councils (although the website you linked to suggests otherwise).

I think the main problem people have with Hyndburn Council is lack of preparation over the summer and indeed the past month. Empty grit bins can be blamed squarely on HBC and we were warned of a harsh winter by the Met Office as early as August.

With the cost of grit so low and the warnings we've had from the experts there really was no excuse for leaving the storehouses at half capacity all year. The weather in Great Britain is very unpredictable and it is shocking not to have been prepared for an eventuality like this. It may never have happened for years but for a fraction of their tax revenue for one year all this could have been avoided.

As for sending out empty gritters and then denying it....

Eric · 04-02-2010, 08:35

Been snowing here for a couple of days ... streets and sidewalks all sanded and clear .... no problem.

david1 · 04-02-2010, 08:40

Why its been so cold across the uk ;-

BBC News - Why was it cold in the UK, but not across the world?

accyman · 04-02-2010, 14:46

the extreem cold weather caused mayhem in ireland when the irish forensics team uncovered what they thought was a mass grave of snowmen.

turned out to be a false alarm after an angry farmer explained that it was a carrot field