what the hell.....

[tintin40]

The driver is a W**Ker. No wonder their are accidents. I bet the police didn't see him either :roll:

doubt it, my local police seem to be permanently parked in Tesco car park in their nice warm Disco eating cake.

I joke not. Last two trips there has proved this observation to be sadly true.

Are you sure their at Tesco's?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8458822.stm?ls

Just having a break from catching criminals :roll:

 

[Augustus]

hindsight is just great.

know what you mean about damned if you do and if you don't but...


bottom line is....

why are gritters repeatedly going along cleared and dry main roads and ignoring all arterial roads connecting with them leaving them up to residents to clear themselves around me?

even if none of our roads were deemed worthy, surely the entrance of the ambulance station might be an idea? But no. They had to ask the residents of the road to help? I mean c'mon...

The best bit is when we rang the council up to ask why they weren't gritting anywhere around my wife's work and request that they did if they could, (rural but important connecting roads) they said they'd farmed it out to a private company (of course) and that company was holding it's stocks 'in case of an emergency'. The same comapny boasted they'd saved the council £100k last year. - presumably by not using any of it's product.

Genius.

 

[makster]

Some local MP was on tv last week moaning that her council had taken heed of the cold-snap in Feb and had indeed ordered extra grit and salt.
She was fuming that it hadn't arrived yet, and that they'd placed their order in good faith in NOVEMBER!!
Order it in the summer FFS! That way, when it is winter you have plenty :roll:

 

[retrojon]

^
I spotted her too. I really wouldn't vote for her if she is your councillor.

She actually believed that it wasn't her fault that they had no grit as they had ordered some.

If I did something as dumb as that I would get fired. "Yes boss, I ordered that 5 minutes ago knowing full well that the lead time was ages and it probably wouldn't turn up on time anyway."

A lot of these councils have large cash surpluses, even after giving millions to Iceland, so cash isn't the problem.

 

[saltyman]

the paths have not been touched in a month round here, solid ice still.

i live on a hill and the road outside and many around it are still shocking, everone is still walking along main roads causing a hazard to drivers......like in the video are not prepared to see them walking in there way!

no idea how more people have not been killed.

last night a car skidded outside my house and ended up crashing through a shop front......

 

[LeeDevelopment]

I can't believe the police were reprimanded for taking a break and having a bit of fun - it shows a much better picture of the police and community relations than what we usually see in the press.

As for snow ploughs, gritting, blah blah blah..... I picked up that the ploughs and gritters were kept back because of this country's nannying H&S regulations! It's their bloody JOB for chrissakes!

 

[kaiser]

If only Homer and Barney lived in the UK

 

[Mr Chicken]

you have to put yourself in the position of our councils' leaders.
Its autumn and forecasters are prediciting a mild winter. As with all public sectors, there's a finite budget and everyone wants some of it. you are faced with a decision for the winter contracts.
1. buy/hire lots of gritting lorries, take on staff for a harsh winter, buy in loads of salt/grit
2. get in a smaller amount of the above, hoping and going with predictions that you'll use most of it in small doses throughout winter.

If predictions are right, and youve done 2, youre laffing
If predicitions are wrong and youve 2, which is where we are, then its a bit of bad PR, you can blame the met office and others, but at least theres still a cost saving.
If predicitions are wrong and you've done 1, the public is happy, PR is good, but the costs are high.
If predictions are right and youve done 2, then youre a complete loser - high costs and loadsa redundant stock, lots of idle drivers time.

What would we all do if faced with those decisions before winter? hindsight is just great.

London councils combined spent £68 million a year on advertising. Those poor council leaders with their tiny finite budgets :roll:

 

[pigman]

London councils combined spent £68 million a year on advertising. Those poor council leaders with their tiny finite budgets :roll:

yeah, i agree. We have the same crap up here. I wasnt really tryin to defend councils spending priorities. What I was saying was that if they increase the gritting budget, then this reduces education or housing or someone elses budget and they then get complaints from those sectors and the public.
The "corporate" expenditure never gets reduced cos that forms part of the executives' priorities. Its the "out in the field" expenditure that shifts like sand.