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The majority of the time, access to these areas was possible with care but - and this is a big but - there is a huge health and safety issue for the contracting firm; it may be in the contract to keep essential areas open but nobody has a right to ask you to put your staff's health or life at risk to carry out these duties.
When we first won the contract in 2000, the then contracts manager for the council would insist that all duties were carried out to the letter (I'm sure his first words spoken as a baby were 'it's in the contract').
We operated in rural areas so staff had to get in to work before being despatched to their duties so, very often, our own staff could not get to work if the roads had been bad.
The contract was eventually amended (or at least we had a gentlemanly agreement) so that all gritting and salting activities would be fulfilled as soon as practicable.
Lucky you are not visiting Farnham this week !
Like you in the past, we have commercial gritting contracts and were out last night until late. However this morning it has proved impossible to get everyone in to the yard, let alone dispatch to sites ! Speaking to our contacts most have adopted the sensible/practical apporach and we have offered limited snow clearance as & when possible.
Apart from that, we taken a 'Snow Day' until it is no longer a safety risk to be out on ungritted main roads.
Just wrapping up for a walk into farnham town with camera, looking for a coffee shop !!! Have already spent ages outside getting some wonderful photographs....
Interesting weather pattern on the map. Seems like the whole of the UK has taken the week off?
Only the big boys making enquiries this week, so it's been a nice relaxing time back into work, so much so that I've even managed to finish off bits n pieces that should have been done 18 months ago....YAH I can't believe how much those silly little bits n pieces niggle!
I take it that it was a video of Phil running around in the snow in the buff? :)
Dan Tarleton MSc, BSc (Hons) said:
"Funny how once England gets snow it is the major topic on news etc. Up here in Scotland we have had this weather since mid December and hardly a word."
I moved down from Scotland to the south coast of England last year. I scoffed at the same disproportionate news coverage that you highlight when the snow hit the south a year ago.
What I now realise is that what makes a story newsworthy is the fact that it is unusual. In Scotland we get snow most years and the ground can remain frozen for a month at a time. That's not a rarity so it isn't worth reporting. Down here they don't usually get snow to any significant depth and what does land will normally disappear in a couple of days at most. The snow sitting on the palm trees at the beach on the south coast is a bit of a freak occurance. The councils have invested in the resources to deal with short-term snowfall because the chances of this prolonged cold are decidedly slim. The bulk of the road networks remain treacherous down here because it is uneconomical to cater for all possibilities. In much the same way, Scottish local authorities aren't prepared for unusual weather up there and don't cater for the facilities to keep the roads open should there be a winter like that of '62-'63.
In other words, it's all relative.
I'm sitting on three different jobs that were supposed to have been completed by now but which can't be attempted until the temperatures recover to seasonal norms. Once the roads are clear again and the ground has defrosted I can get back to work but in the meantime I'm kicking my heels and trying to keep out from under the feet of everyone else who is stuck at home in my house. It's amazing how quickly a day off becomes a prison sentence.