Afternoon:
14°c
Snow havoc returns to roads and we’re running out of grit
Dick Murray05.02.09
Heavy snow showers swept across central and southern England again today, causing travel disruption and a fourth day of school closures.
As the Met Office issued severe weather warnings covering much of southern Britain, there were worries that supplies of gritting salt were running low.
Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Cambridgeshire were all badly affected by snow.
Drivers were confronted with hazardous conditions and rail passengers in London suffered severe delays and cancelled services to the Midlands, the West and the North of England.
Forecasters said the heaviest falls would be in the Midlands and West Country where up to four inches of snow was expected.
In Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, ambulance officials urged people to call 999 only if absolutely necessary because the state of the roads was making driving difficult.
Spokesman Gary Sanderson said: “We are asking the public to think twice about calling for an ambulance.''
Police and the Highways Agency warned drivers of hazardous road conditions on the M1, M25, M11, A14 and the A1 to the north of London and in the South Midlands, with a number of crashes and roads blocked by jack-knifed lorries. Heavy snow also fell on the M4 and M5 in Wiltshire.
Luton airport and East Midlands airport, near Derby, were closed as staff worked to clear runways.
Tens of thousands of rail passengers suffered delays and cancellations, with long-distance services worst hit.
Virgin Trains said services on routes connecting London with the North and the Midlands faced disruption. Trains have been ordered to reduce speed, adding at least 30 minutes to journeys. Some trains have been cancelled and others were making additional stops.
Travellers were warned of delays of a least 30 minutes on services between King's Cross and destinations such as Peterborough and Cambridge while the service to Leeds was also badly hit.
First Great Western, which runs long- distance services from the South-West to Paddington, warned of many timetable changes to destinations such as Bristol and South Wales, while Chiltern Railways confirmed delays of 30 minutes on routes from Marylebone.
Commuters were also experiencing delays on services in the Stevenage area following overhead line problems at Hitchin and Royston.
The snow came as local authorities warned that gritting salt supplies were running dangerously low, with just three days' supply left in some areas.
The biggest salt supplier, Salt Union, in Cheshire, said staff are working round the clock. “We have been operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week since the beginning of January and are extracting 30 million kilos per week but the unexpected and unusual weather means that, even working at this level, demand is outstripping supply,” the firm said. Another company, Cleveland Potash, is importing 40,000 tonnes of salt from Spain.
The Highways Agency said it had enough salt to keep main routes ice-free but the AA described gritting as a “lottery”.
Reader views (11)
Whatever happened to community spirit. In my youth everybody cleared the pavement outside of their own house and, if their neighbour was elderly, their's too. My Council has 300 people clearing snow, but if just 1% of the population got out a broom and a shovel that would get 2500 people contributing. I don't know what's caused this but we've developed a terrible dependency culture. As citizens we have responsibilities not just rights and expectations!
- Marc, London
Van Daniels may live in Spain but he has hit the nail on the head. The paper showed a photo of uncollected rubbish still covered in snow in Hammersmith & Fulham (tory) Council and yet they had the money for flags lining the streets of Hammersmith proclaiming their 3p cut in Council Tax. Looks like the snow has caught them out. Oddly I dont know this time but in the past the best council for snow was the City Corporation which is the only council not dominated by party politics!
As for not getting buses out of garages why do they not have their own supplies of grit? I know its because the did when they were state owned under London Transport but the Tories privatised the buses (And Ken when he ran the GLC! although he had no choice!!) And unlike outside London they did not loose revenue last Monday.
I was surprised/shocked when I heard ALL London buses had been withdrawn given that my local buses here in South Essex to Southend ran ALL Day and the have to cope with real hills and twisty lanes.
We cant even refer to Boris as a Cowboy Mayor as another Cowboy had "True Grit!"
In future we need to:-
Bring back the concrete grit containers which London had on every main road.
While Boris will need to Re-Run his bus contest so we can have one with run back breaks like the Trolleybuses which ran on route 611 (now 271) up Highgate Hill! London Transport knew how to do things in those days!
Perhaps councils should be made to pay compensation to TFL.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
Never mind, in a week or so's time it will be half term and the schools can have another whole week off.
Are there vacancies for teachers? Seems a great job to me
- William Grierson, Kimpton-UK
I think we should all move to Spain - the weather is much nicer there. Actually, here's a better idea: let's send Gormless Frown and his cronies to Spain and let the country sort itself out.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland
The only reason the path outside our house is clear is that my next door neighbour and her 3 YEAR OLD SON spent most of yesterday clearing it with a garden fork and a broom. Prior to that it was covered in packed ice 2cm deep and was a hazard to old and young alike. The council, and their grit, was nowhere to be seen. That toddler puts them to shame.
- Claire, London
This country lost it's grit years ago.
- Mike, London
Has anyone noticed that most of the councils who are failing to provide basic services during the snow like schools that open, emergency ambulance services, grit and salt for roads, public transport, rubbish collection etc, are Conservative run councils. You get what you vote for, vote Conservative - vote appalling public services.
- Val Daniels, Mijas Costa, Spain
Running out of grit?
That sums up this whole country in one sentence. Although we as a nation didnt have much to begin with.
- John Smith, Edinburgh Scotland
perhaps next year we will be more prepared.
Can we not have stocks of salt and sand to last three months and top up after each day.
Perhaps we should learn from other counties that have regular snow.
- Barney Sewell, Hull. East Yorkshire
"Britain running out of grit!" True enough given the number of excuses I've heard from people who "couldn't" (as in couldn't be bothered to) get to work.
- Paul, London
Has anyone seen ANY grit in Newham??????? The council should be ashamed of themselves - the pavements are like ice rinks.
- Anon, London
