In the snow of 2009, I single handedly gritted the main road in my estate as I couldn't get my car home as it got stuck on the hill. It took me about three hours and the only grit bin that had any in was opposite my house so I had to go back and forth many times getting more. People just looked out of their windows at me and some told me that I'm doing a good job-from their front doors. No one bothered to help me though. I'm never doing that again >:(
Just going to abandon it on the hill the next time, then?
Nobody forced you to do it. You chose to do it in order to get your car home. Did you want all your neighbours to roll up their sleeves and shovel snow, just so that you could get home?
They probably had the sense to stay indoors, walk or get the bus, fit winter tyres to their car or drive dirty big 4X4s.
They are not part of Birmingham and some locals will be well upset, Sandwell and Dudley along with Walsall are boroughs in the West Midlands. But I admit on a map like Greater London and Greater Manchester we see the urban sprawl and outsiders refer to the historically important name.
They may not be Birmingham City Council but they are greater Birmingham, My in -laws in Sandwell and Walsall are a 5 minute bus ride outside of the city centre, walking distance even, they consider themselves Brummies.
No they are not!
Sandwell borders Birmingham, I would not say its a comfortable walking distance from the city centre. I work there!
I live in Walsall, nothing at all to do with Birmingham here. There is no such place as Greater Birmingham.
If you use it, why don't you do it? There's always this attitude of it being someone else's responsibility.
Because I don't live in it. I consider the lane outside my own property to be my responsibility together with my drive so we do those. We live some distance away.
I would point out that DH and myself always go and grit an old peoples complex which is in the other direction and which nobody ever clears except us.
What's the legalities with clearing paths/roads? I'm always put off because a few years ago I heard people were being sued and stuff? I'd do it otherwise.
It's a shame we don't have grit bins anymore, unfortunately I have nowhere to store grit/salt or my husband would be out there helping clear our communal paths.
Well looking around, a lot of folk have left the car at home today.
Including me, but as it is a rest day from work...got a nice 5.30am start tomorrow. So before bed, it is another go around the drive.
Managed to get up the road to the grit bin earlier and got a bucket of the stuff, spread it around on the road outside with a spade( was hoping some kind man might come out and help me!, but no) and it is melting a treat now, the sun is helping too, back to school for the kids tomorrow ,yay.
We live down a cul-de-sac and every year all the residents (about 20 houses) put a small amount of money in and a few of the residents grit the whole street and pavements. Not sure why this seems to be a strange thing as some have suggested. The grit is purchased during autumn from Costco (this year anyway) and stored in someones garage. I would have thought most people do this. The main roads are usually okay to drive on, its just the side ones that need cleaning.
Because I don't live in it. I consider the lane outside my own property to be my responsibility together with my drive so we do those. We live some distance away.
I would point out that DH and myself always go and grit an old peoples complex which is in the other direction and which nobody ever clears except us.
But it's not your responsibility, that's a rule you've imposed on yourself. It's a bit rich to expect others to clear the road outside their houses, which doesn't belong to them, so that YOU can use it as a short cut!
If it bothers you that the path isn't salted, do it instead of moaning about other people not doing it.
Dustmen, roadsweepers, park staff etc etc, why cant they be used to grit footpaths ?? its all to do with council cut backs there is no money to clear footpaths, they cant continue to make cuts to services.
Because they are all likely to be private contractors employed by the council for ONE particular role. The binmen will be employed by a private firm who won a contract to provide refuse collection for the council. They are not employed to clear snow and grit roads.
Same with roadsweepers, park staff etc - they are not employed to clear snow, therefore they do not clear snow.
What's the legalities with clearing paths/roads? I'm always put off because a few years ago I heard people were being sued and stuff? I'd do it otherwise.
Never happened, no-one got sued. It was just chatter on comment boards and forums. As reliable as banning conkers and Winterval replacing Christmas. Oh, and 'blue Monday' which is also twaddle.
I was in an area, a few days ago when the ice was really bad, that has alot of old people. There was no grit on the paths (this is on a high street) and i can't imagine how many of them were probably injured falling over.
I would go as far as saying they should go and round up some able-bodied unemployed to clear the snow there are plenty of them about, from all accounts.
I would be more than happy to help unable people by clearing ice, after all, all i do is laze around all day right? Unfortunately there are no elderly people where i live. However i did travel down to my grandmothers and shift some from her garden and a few of her elderly neighbours.
Because they are all likely to be private contractors employed by the council for ONE particular role. The binmen will be employed by a private firm who won a contract to provide refuse collection for the council. They are not employed to clear snow and grit roads.
Same with roadsweepers, park staff etc - they are not employed to clear snow, therefore they do not clear snow.
What about areas where it's all still in house?
Northumberland, Newcastle and Gateshead are all in house and even use office based staff during heavy snow which seems sensible. If they had any brains the councils would write in caveats to the contract to allow them to redeploy when necessary
If you want to pay an extra £500 a year council tax I'm sure it can be arranged?
As it is your council tax goes into housing benefit, street lighting, social services, towards policing and fire, road repairs, planning, and many other things other than just waste collection and street cleaning.
see this is what i was thinking
and at the risk of being shouted down with "some people have to get out"... we knew the snow was coming, people have been buying food, do people actually need to go out?
and would people be happy to pay more council tax to make sure that on the odd occasion we have bad snow, people can get out and not have to stay in for a couple of days?
Good for you and your neighbours, that is the spirit we need not a load of people moaning about their lot.
I would go as far as saying they should go and round up some able-bodied unemployed to clear the snow there are plenty of them about, from all accounts.
How would that work then? Who rounds them up, gets them the supplies and clothing, transports people and kit to multiple sites, co-ordinates the work teams and area priorities? The 'council' I suppose. That makes it all free and easy then doesn't it...
Northumberland, Newcastle and Gateshead are all in house and even use office based staff during heavy snow which seems sensible. If they had any brains the councils would write in caveats to the contract to allow them to redeploy when necessary
Since when did anyone in local authority have any brains? My local council basically everything is contracted out to other suppliers. I don't think anyone actually works for the council directly.
Give them their dues they do grit the main roads and our pedestrianised high street, and there are grit bins dotted about that seem to have been used.
In an ideal world, the council would grit all the side roads, but it never has happened and certainly isn't going to now. It is a problem, however, if the main roads are fine, but you can't finish your journey up a lane or a side road. Or get to the main road to start with. Our side road is a busy cut-through in morning and evening rush hours, but barely a car came down yesterday and it was weird trying to get 6" of snow off my car this morning at 8am in silence and with no traffic.
My £1,200 investment in winter tyres also paid dividends. My 2 tonne, RWD car would never have gotten out of my side road this morning. Last time I got stuck at work on the industrial estate. This morning, no such problems!
Sandwell borders Birmingham, I would not say its a comfortable walking distance from the city centre. I work there!
I live in Walsall, nothing at all to do with Birmingham here. There is no such place as Greater Birmingham.
I think that you will find that Great Barr includes Birmingham, Sandwell, Walsall, and is just a few miles from the city centre, I have driven it and bus ridden it many times.
The pavements around here are horrendous. Our snow fell on Friday and since then the pavements have had people walking on them and compacting it and then we've had a melt-freeze-melt-freeze thing going on so now it is really uneven ice.
Needless to say, pedestrians are walking on the roads (which are fine, because they've been gritted, ploughed and driven on a lot since Friday).
Comments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_BcNpJ6v4U
Nobody forced you to do it. You chose to do it in order to get your car home. Did you want all your neighbours to roll up their sleeves and shovel snow, just so that you could get home?
They probably had the sense to stay indoors, walk or get the bus, fit winter tyres to their car or drive dirty big 4X4s.
Because I don't live in it. I consider the lane outside my own property to be my responsibility together with my drive so we do those. We live some distance away.
I would point out that DH and myself always go and grit an old peoples complex which is in the other direction and which nobody ever clears except us.
Don't be put off!
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/get-ready-for-winter/out-and-about/the-snow-code
Including me, but as it is a rest day from work...got a nice 5.30am start tomorrow. So before bed, it is another go around the drive.
But it's not your responsibility, that's a rule you've imposed on yourself. It's a bit rich to expect others to clear the road outside their houses, which doesn't belong to them, so that YOU can use it as a short cut!
If it bothers you that the path isn't salted, do it instead of moaning about other people not doing it.
Because they are all likely to be private contractors employed by the council for ONE particular role. The binmen will be employed by a private firm who won a contract to provide refuse collection for the council. They are not employed to clear snow and grit roads.
Same with roadsweepers, park staff etc - they are not employed to clear snow, therefore they do not clear snow.
Never happened, no-one got sued. It was just chatter on comment boards and forums. As reliable as banning conkers and Winterval replacing Christmas. Oh, and 'blue Monday' which is also twaddle.
I would be more than happy to help unable people by clearing ice, after all, all i do is laze around all day right? Unfortunately there are no elderly people where i live. However i did travel down to my grandmothers and shift some from her garden and a few of her elderly neighbours.
What about areas where it's all still in house?
Northumberland, Newcastle and Gateshead are all in house and even use office based staff during heavy snow which seems sensible. If they had any brains the councils would write in caveats to the contract to allow them to redeploy when necessary
see this is what i was thinking
and at the risk of being shouted down with "some people have to get out"... we knew the snow was coming, people have been buying food, do people actually need to go out?
and would people be happy to pay more council tax to make sure that on the odd occasion we have bad snow, people can get out and not have to stay in for a couple of days?
How would that work then? Who rounds them up, gets them the supplies and clothing, transports people and kit to multiple sites, co-ordinates the work teams and area priorities? The 'council' I suppose. That makes it all free and easy then doesn't it...
Since when did anyone in local authority have any brains?
Give them their dues they do grit the main roads and our pedestrianised high street, and there are grit bins dotted about that seem to have been used.
My £1,200 investment in winter tyres also paid dividends. My 2 tonne, RWD car would never have gotten out of my side road this morning. Last time I got stuck at work on the industrial estate. This morning, no such problems!
Needless to say, pedestrians are walking on the roads (which are fine, because they've been gritted, ploughed and driven on a lot since Friday).
My council are (usually) rubbish, but I can not fault them on this.