Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: pscocoa on 06 January 2010, 16:52:12
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The current weather is extreme and I have no particluar issues. However, the slight downfall on 22nd December was something else - a minor fall that we should have been capable of delaing with. Here is my note to the Local Government Association on 22nd December and their reply:
"I see the LGA is defending its incompetent, self serving, smug (Council) members who have catastrophically failed everyone with their handling of the weather crisis. They were warned about the snow and the gritters were not out there early enough by at least 3 hours.
As usual Council staff are sat on their butts doing the absolute minimum apart from working hard to justify their own jobs (sack 50% of the so- called managers would be a good start in rebuilding finances)and were probably penny pinching on the gritting to spend on salaries of the umpteen useless advisers and nanny state goons that populate your profession.
A public enquiry needs to be made in some areas to find out exactly why roads were not gritted and see some heads roll."
Reply from LGA
"Thank you for your email regarding the winter gritting issues that have affected the country. My understanding is that far from being 'sat on their butts doing the absolute minimum, councils in affected areas of the country have been working round the clock to try and keep the roads open.
On a national basis the LGA estimates that around 4,000 people have been out round the clock working to keep the roads clear and have used around 160,000 tonnes of salt to cover the equivalent of 1,000,000 miles of road. While we do not pretend everything went perfectly we do believe that as much was done as possible to help people get to and from destinations. The balance is a fine one for each and every council. While each needs to maintain stocks of salt and grit to keep roads open there is also a huge financial cost to keeping stores of both. The cost of the land, the manpower, the vehicles, the buildings and the salt (of which 10% vanishes due to humidity during the summer) all mean that tough decisions have to be taken between getting the right amount of grit and salt for a rare event while keeping the cost to the taxpayer down. In 2008/09, councils across the country spent around £185million on winter weather equipment and any any extra investment will cost the council taxpayer more.
Local Government Association"
Following this I have written to my local Council:
"
The people of Bracknell are entitled to answers to a few simple questions and I would advocate that such questions are answered by an independent inquiry to see exactly what was or was not done and the critical issue of timing in relation thereto.
1. At what time were the gritters mobilised on the 22nd December 2009?
2. How many gritters does BFBC have – directly owned and on contract on the day in question? Were any additional gritters obtained from other sources during the day in question?
3. What were the routes they attended first and at what time?
4. Where is the base/depot for the salt and where are the gritters stationed if different?
5. What was the stock of grit on the morning of 22nd December and what deliveries were made during the day?
6. Please provide a copy of the procedural manual for the gritting service and the chain of command
7. Of the 500 tonnes (this number in itself means nothing but probably impresses some) how much was delivered on each day – do you have such records?
8. Given the number of days from 17th December to 23rd December – the average is around 80 to 90 tonnes.
9. Please advise number of miles of routes of different categories and how you assess priority – eg miles of bus routes, miles of A and B roads
10. How many drivers and supervisors did you have available on the day in question?
I think most gritter lorries hold 10 tonnes – is this correct for BFBC vehicles.
The answers to the above will be a start and from there we can hopefully get to the bottom of the shambles that occurred.
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I see your point but sadly (& i think you know) you won't change anything. Every time this happens we hear of other countries, Germany, Sweden etc. & how well thier transport systems are running. They will do because they live with it much of the time so it's a way of life. In our case it catches us off guard & we blunder through it. It's not only local councils but drivers not being used to conditions don't help. I spent yesterday travelling from Lincolnshire to Cumbria & back involving motorways & A & B roads in a nearly fully loaded artic (42/43t gross) & cars were spinning off the road, colliding with eachother, one fool in particlar in a 51 plate fiesta shot too fast out of a slip road in front of me on the M6 near Preston. It was nearly the last thing he ever did. I was only doing 25mph when he span, i cadence braked, lifted off, eased to the right, cadence braked again when straightened up. Meanwhile he was all over the place with his brake lights on the whole time! ::)
This is why the same thing will happen every time we have a cold snap. The authorities & man y, not all of the motoring public just don't have a clue! :'(
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Council guy round our way last night was moaning at people for abandoning vehicles (what else can you do when there's a foot of snow?) and moaning at people who volunteered their own 4x4s for towing said vehicles out of the way. :-?
Kevin
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It's not just the councils to blame IMO... Guy is right... Too many muppets who cant drive >:( >:( >:(
Like the numpty in a BMW who pulled out of the end of our road earlier and strted going sideways so he hit the brakes and stayed on them, wondering why he was still going sideways ::) ::) ::)
Me, I pulled out of the same junction (after turning the TC off), hit the same slippery patch, applied a little more throttle and opposite lock to correct the slide and continued on my merry way ;) ;)
Then, coming home after collecting SWMBO, someone came to the end of the road too quickly for the icy roads with a fresh snowfall on top, applied the brakes and went straight on into the path of an oncoming van :o :o :o Luckily it was low speed but made a real mess of the ladies 09 plate Pug 207 and the van, even at such a low speed. Luckily no injuries were sustained, but could have been really nasty :o :o
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Since New Years eve, i have seen just 2 gritters out in Swindon, both today.....one was gritting at 5pm tonight....what good is that gonna do....with forecast temp overnight of -5C! Oh and he had his snow plough down as well, pushing all the slush/snow into the path of oncoming traffic! ::)
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Since New Years eve, i have seen just 2 gritters out in Swindon, both today.....one was gritting at 5pm tonight....what good is that gonna do....with forecast temp overnight of -5C! Oh and he had his snow plough down as well, pushing all the slush/snow into the path of oncoming traffic! ::)
There's a lot of inbreeding in Swindon......
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I had to go out to a meeting last night and was appauled that the A565 (a main duel carriageway that carrys tens of thousands of vehicals a day) had not been gritted, nor had the Southport coastal road a single carriageway converted from a railway after the Beeching cuts and Known accident "black spot" WTF >:( I can understand the council not treating side roads to conserve grit stocks but main roads being left untreated beggers belief.
As for Liverpool City Council using there entire stock pile of grit in a few days. How little did they have in reserve in the first place, the stocks were obviously totally inadequate. Someone in the Councils head should roll for incompetence, it would in the private sector, but councils being councils they'll all cover up for each other, and nothing will evar get any better >:(
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I had to go out to a meeting last night and was appauled that the A565 (a main duel carriageway that carrys tens of thousands of vehicals a day) had not been gritted, nor had the Southport coastal road a single carriageway converted from a railway after the Beeching cuts and Known accident "black spot" WTF >:( I can understand the council not treating side roads to conserve grit stocks but main roads being left untreated beggers belief.
As for Liverpool City Council using there entire stock pile of grit in a few days. How little did they have in reserve in the first place, the stocks were obviously totally inadequate. Someone in the Councils head should roll for incompetence, it would in the private sector, but councils being councils they'll all cover up for each other, and nothing will evar get any better >:(
Could have the details wrong but i believe ALL the grit/salt comes from a mine Winsford.
Tippers from all areas are queueing to get loads back to thier respective council depots to load said gritters.
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I had to go out to a meeting last night and was appauled that the A565 (a main duel carriageway that carrys tens of thousands of vehicals a day) had not been gritted, nor had the Southport coastal road a single carriageway converted from a railway after the Beeching cuts and Known accident "black spot" WTF >:( I can understand the council not treating side roads to conserve grit stocks but main roads being left untreated beggers belief.
As for Liverpool City Council using there entire stock pile of grit in a few days. How little did they have in reserve in the first place, the stocks were obviously totally inadequate. Someone in the Councils head should roll for incompetence, it would in the private sector, but councils being councils they'll all cover up for each other, and nothing will evar get any better >:(
And that same persons head would roll if he ordered too much salt and we had a mild winter, remember the official, long range, forcast was for mild weather this winter....
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Nothing wrong with that mate, more people need to stand up on behalf of all of us
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Since New Years eve, i have seen just 2 gritters out in Swindon, both today.....one was gritting at 5pm tonight....what good is that gonna do....with forecast temp overnight of -5C! Oh and he had his snow plough down as well, pushing all the slush/snow into the path of oncoming traffic! ::)
Tonight alone the gritter has gone past 5 times, that includes both ways
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I live in Durham and work in Stockton, you can tell where the border is, Stockton do a better job of gritting than Durham, and they are pretty good, and only 1 school, in Stockton, is closed...... :D :D :D
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Im in Edinburgh and all seems fine here. Theyve done a pretty good job with the roads as far as I can see
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I had to go out to a meeting last night and was appauled that the A565 (a main duel carriageway that carrys tens of thousands of vehicals a day) had not been gritted, nor had the Southport coastal road a single carriageway converted from a railway after the Beeching cuts and Known accident "black spot" WTF >:( I can understand the council not treating side roads to conserve grit stocks but main roads being left untreated beggers belief.
As for Liverpool City Council using there entire stock pile of grit in a few days. How little did they have in reserve in the first place, the stocks were obviously totally inadequate. Someone in the Councils head should roll for incompetence, it would in the private sector, but councils being councils they'll all cover up for each other, and nothing will evar get any better >:(
And that same persons head would roll if he ordered too much salt and we had a mild winter, remember the official, long range,
Thats as maybe, however the met office don't have a good track record on short term forcasts let alone more longer term as has been seen at the moment.
Asfore stock piling grit at thirty £ per ton thats small potatos when you concider the amount of money that local authoritys waste on other project for example Sefton council decided to replace the perfectly good black tarmac on Lord St. Southport with red tarmac because they thought the colour was nicer >:(
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I had to go out to a meeting last night and was appauled that the A565 (a main duel carriageway that carrys tens of thousands of vehicals a day) had not been gritted, nor had the Southport coastal road a single carriageway converted from a railway after the Beeching cuts and Known accident "black spot" WTF >:( I can understand the council not treating side roads to conserve grit stocks but main roads being left untreated beggers belief.
As for Liverpool City Council using there entire stock pile of grit in a few days. How little did they have in reserve in the first place, the stocks were obviously totally inadequate. Someone in the Councils head should roll for incompetence, it would in the private sector, but councils being councils they'll all cover up for each other, and nothing will evar get any better >:(
And that same persons head would roll if he ordered too much salt and we had a mild winter, remember the official, long range,
Thats as maybe, however the met office don't have a good track record on short term forcasts let alone more longer term as has been seen at the moment.
Asfore stock piling grit at thirty £ per ton thats small potatos when you concider the amount of money that local authoritys waste on other project for example Sefton council decided to replace the perfectly good black tarmac on Lord St. Southport with red tarmac because they thought the colour was nicer >:(
Then you should take that up with your local council, as you seem to be doing...... :y without being over pedantic I can't really complain about our local council, except our bin did not get emptied today..... :D :D :D
And, as others have said, people must take responsibility for their own actions and their lack of ability / understanding of driving is such poor conditions, or do we just blame the Council for everything..... :D
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Gritter / Plough just gone past again...... :y