You can't really blame the Airports, can you?

[Welly]

On the news at the moment just about every other story is about someone complaining about how we're not dealing with the snow effectively but I've been looking at this another way........

See, imagine if this country spent £25 billion pounds on snow-clearing equipment and then it never snowed again! if you recall it is only the last couple of winters that we've had this unusual weather - before this we'd be lucky to even see a single snow flake in the sky for years.

So I say; quit with the moaning, the weather's unusual, we don't normally get this so we haven't got the best equipment like Sweden does because we don't really need it.

You can only buy equipment based on a need for it, sure it would be nice if I had a set of spare winter wheels and winter tyres, even some snow socks, but do I really need them? not really if the snow was that bad I'd stay at home.

[steve_earwig]

I can remember snow like you've been getting from my youth. Ok, perhaps it wasn't that cold but that doesn't make much difference if the roads are clear. In fact my dad tells me it was much the same when he was a lad too. So, the UK has a few mild winters and they sell off all the snow clearing gear to please the accountants and now they're all scared to invest anything just in case it doesn't get that cold one winter and the accountants make them sell it all again. What a crock! The rest of Europe has similar or worse weather and they're all coping (more or less) so why can't dear old Blighty manage with a few centimetres of the white stuff?! It's a joke!

[Welly]

I dunno, it just seems like everyone's moaning and trying to blame someone for the Travel ChaosTM but you can bet if they did invest in loads of equipment they'd be moaning about the cost (or passing it on to us via the council tax)

I was talking to a guy yesterday and we remembered the snow in 1976 / 1977? I remember how it drifted into huge piles and how the ploughs would pile it up onto the pavements. I suppose it goes in natural cycles every 8/10 years, this one has caught them out and it couldn't have come at a worse time when the country is flat broke

[DaiRees]

I can remember some decent snowfalls from when I was a kid, the biggest one I remember was 1981 or 2? This isn't anywhere near that, but it is certainly the worst we've had since then.

No you can't blame the airports, the extreme cold and the snow are both unusual and if I were running a business I'd be reluctant to spend lots of the shareholders' money on equipment that might never be needed.

I do have to take issue with the local authorities though, I live in a cul-de-sac so I wouldn't expect it to be cleared in a rush, but it used to be that if I could get the car to the bottom of the street I'd be joining a bus route which would have been cleared, not this year! So then if I struggle on another couple of hundred yards down a steep hill I get on to the main road, that'll be fine surely? Err no! Struggle down there for a mile and get on the dual carriageway, the main route from Cardiff to Noth Wales, even that's a discrace!! Why can't they clear the bus routes and keep the main roads running? I remember the LA using ordinary flat bed lorries with bolt on ploughs in the past, where are they now??

....and another thing, I never remember so many people just not going out, I don't want the road full of numpties but you need a steady flow of traffic to clear the roads and keep them clear. As I drive around town I can't believe the number of cars that are just sat there covered in snow, clearly haven't attempted to move. For this I blame the media and the ambulance chasers, world's gone mad!

/rant

Anyway, I'm seriously considering getting a decent 4X4 next year

[highlander]

if they did invest in loads of equipment they'd be moaning about the cost

They've already got the sodding equipment - a huge fleet of gritters belonging to each individual council.

And where are they, and what are they doing? Here's one example local to myself, showing the council's attitudes to dealing with the problem and using this equipment...:
http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1543606

[steve_earwig]

A council spokesman said the gritters were being called in when the temperature falls below -3C because spreading salt “does not work”.

That's just feeble. It's what they use here too (plus calcium chloride but that's expensive), the moment the temperature lifts the roads clear and actually dry.

[FarmerPug]

I was stuck in Edinburgh airport about this time 2 years ago when on a geography trip about Edinburgh's sustainable transport solutions, anyhow after a day wandering round edinburgh which pulls the legs clean out of you due to its mild gradients. The whole class got back to the airport about 3pm for the 4:30 flight, that flight didnt leave until about 4:30am, the pack of cards became the best thing in the world.

[Doggy]

Of course you can't plough half the roads anymore cos of these dickrickulous speed bumps.

[FarmerPug]

You can out here in the countryside, stick a link box on the back of your tractor, lower it down and scrape the snow away that the council couldnt be arsed doing, and be loved by all your neighbours and users of the road for actually doing this, in fact is actually like plastering the holes in the road. all the potholes are wee white holes.