Councils & Gritting paths

Jono

Jono

Jono

Man of Honour
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
13,262
Location
Northallerton/Harrogate
This year, my parents' local council decided not to grit the paths. This is the first time they've done nothing at all.

In years gone by they'd send out people with a wheely bin type contraption full of road salt to sprinkle over pavements/footpaths (call them what you will) or had a mini tractor with a mini gritter trailer on the back.

What the town was left with was after a couple of days of snow, semi-thaw, freeze, snow, semi-thaw, freeze were paths covered in about 2" of lumpy, slippery ice.

Apparently the council took the decision to do bot all because people wouldn't be able to sue them for doing a "not good enough" job of gritting. I don't think anyone's ever actually attempted to sue because they fell over on a small patch of ice that'd escaped being salted.

I saw at least 20 people on their arse, knees or up in the air before slamming onto the ground as a result of slipping on the ice that was on the paths.
The only "safe" place to walk was along the main road, which had been made about 3' narrower than usual thanks to the pile of frozen snow on either side left over from where the snowploughs had been.

Surely there must've been hundreds more falls/slips/other injuries this year as a result of the non-action from the council than there would've been had the place been gritted?

Did anyone else's local council have such a retarded idea for dealing with the snow/ice?
 
Yep. Our council have only gritted once as far as I've been able to make out. They didn't grit this morning and my colleague had an accident.

[edit]Thats roads by the way, not paths.
 
How about some common sense and a little extra care by some people? Where pavements are gritted how often are they done and is it every pavement on every street? It must be a logistical nightmare to organise.
 
Jeff Lynne said:
How about some common sense and a little extra care by some people? Where pavements are gritted how often are they done and is it every pavement on every street? It must be a logistical nightmare to organise.
Click to expand...

Even elderly/limited-abled(?)/pregnant people? Are they to remain indoors for 4 days at a time?


I'm all for common sense and taking extra care, but the conditions that were allowed to develop were nothing less than dangerous. For *anyone*, let alone idiots :)

Typically it would've been at least one side of the roads' pavements that were done - it's not a huge town and it's not like the council's underresourced or underfunded. In fact, the council is/was at risk of having funding from central government cut because it had too much money. - Point is, there'd be *somewhere* safe for people to walk, near to where they lived. They wouldn't have to spend the whole journey on their arse. They didn't even do the high street pavements, which they'd normally do as a matter of course.

I just thought it was a stupid decision to make, is all.
 
well ive only just moved to dundee but they been useing the big truck gritters and for paths and other public walk ways Tiny little tractor type things with a little thing on back of git full of grit drooping it off some paths of the center they dont do and some peeps try to walk across the ice covered paths , make for a funny sight a woman in high heels walking across ice
 
Due to frost/ice/snow my Grandmother was in her house for 8 days, scared to venture up the path.

blesser!
 
Welcome to the whole of the last month for us scots. Most of the main roads are gritted but most paths have been left. Last week when we had it really bad, hospitals across scotland reported a 20-40% increase in admissions over previous years with several having their highest ever weekly admissions.

The cause? Broken bones, strained ankles etc all directly attributable to the weather.
 
Windle said:
Welcome to the whole of the last month for us scots. Most of the main roads are gritted but most paths have been left. Last week when we had it really bad, hospitals across scotland reported a 20-40% increase in admissions over previous years with several having their highest ever weekly admissions.

The cause? Broken bones, strained ankles etc all directly attributable to the weather.
Click to expand...
wtf, am I the only one who's bones aren't made of glass?!
 
I fallen plenty, quite violently at times, I've never broken a bone in my body. Though in comparison to other's I could not say that I slipped more or less.

Maybe It's a sense of balance I have that other's do not? Or good choice of footwear?
 
Our office driveway and carpark is supposed to be gritted. They tend to dump a thing of grit in a pile in a corner around 10pm ish once everyone has arrived and skated to the front door. :rolleyes:

n670106178_1611142_5716.jpg


What greeted me as I arrived at work yesterday morning.
 
Simple liability law: if you don't grit and someone falls, it's an accident. If you do grit and they fall, it's negligence.


M
 
Our Village wasn't gritted or cleared last Thursday - had 3-4 inches all through the village and on the roads into and out of it.

We don't have any salt bins either, and the council seem to never Grit it at all!

My dad went into Thirsk and came back with 4 bucketloads of grit from there, but said the roads (~6 miles) to town weren't gritted either (fairly main road if I'm honest) and neither were the roads or pavements in Thirsk itself which was ridiculous! (sp?)
 
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