Why does the UK grind to a halt with a little snow?

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Dolph said:
Because we get snow so rarely people aren't used to or prepared for it, because it's false economy to own snow tyres etc for the one time in every 4-5 years when they might be useful.
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We get snow at least several times a year, during winter - a period when snow is traditionally expected. That's frequent enough for people to know how to cope with the stuff. It's not some strange alien substance only encountered once every 25 years in remote parts of Nantwich beneath a full moon on the first Wednesday of January during the dance of the mystical sky maidens. :rolleyes:

This country is prepared for snow; it has all the right equipment, experience and manpower. The problem is that nobody seems to do anything about it when the occasion arrises. Case in point: last week snow was predicted several days in advance, so I kept an eye on the local gritting bins and expected to see gritters doing their rounds shortly. But...nothing on Thursday. Nothing on Friday. Nothing on Saturday. Snow arrives on Sunday; still no gritting. Snow pelting down on Monday; still no gritting.

See the problem?

And this is only light snow; we're not talking about fullscale blizzards or snowdrifts!
 
I live about 19 miles from work and some days in the winter it does take well over an hour to get to work. The only time I stay off is when the road over the hills has been closed.
 
because its so unpredictable..if we lived in scandanavia or coanad you can predict roughly when its going to start and then you can safely assume its with you for a number of months

so people make provision, stock up and prepare vehicles and houses..you can have snow chains or proper snow tyres and leave them on for 3 months...you cannot do that here as might snow heavily for a couple of days..but then its all gone a couple of days later
 
Evangelion said:
We get snow at least several times a year, during winter - a period when snow is traditionally expected. That's frequent enough for people to know how to cope with the stuff. It's not some strange alien substance only encountered once every 25 years in remote parts of Nantwich beneath a full moon on the first Wednesday of January during the dance of the mystical sky maidens. :rolleyes:

This country is prepared for snow; it has all the right equipment, experience and manpower. The problem is that nobody seems to do anything about it when the occasion arrises. Case in point: last week snow was predicted several days in advance, so I kept an eye on the local gritting bins and expected to see gritters doing their rounds shortly. But...nothing on Thursday. Nothing on Friday. Nothing on Saturday. Snow arrives on Sunday; still no gritting. Snow pelting down on Monday; still no gritting.

See the problem?

And this is only light snow; we're not talking about fullscale blizzards or snowdrifts!
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Not really, we aren't equipped.

I spent two years living in Canada and a year in the Alps, so I've seen how other countries handle things.

They key thing we are missing is that those kind of countries are built around having seasonal workers who clear snow, we don't have anything like that in this country and employing people on the off chance that there is would be ridiculous.

Gritting is really the only thing done here, we don't have winter bulldozers waiting to clear away snow. Winter tyres aren't a mandatory requirement.

As other people have also pointed out, councils have cut funding. There used to be a gritting bin on my street when I was a kid, but that disappeared years ago.
 
Damien. said:
A lazy nation, the slightest hope that they can get a day off work, they'll take it.
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The UK is probably the hardest working in Europe. We have fewest national holidays and it's only recently that the EU has started trying to balance things out for us by introducing more compulsory holiday days (25 minimum now).
 
Damien. said:
A lazy nation, the slightest hope that we can get a day off work, we take it.
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Yeah wtf?

You obviously don't hang around too many Mediterranean countries then.

People in the UK are idiots, running around like headless chickens all the time, trying constantly to get things done.
 
Evangelion said:
We get snow at least several times a year, during winter - a period when snow is traditionally expected. That's frequent enough for people to know how to cope with the stuff. It's not some strange alien substance only encountered once every 25 years in remote parts of Nantwich beneath a full moon on the first Wednesday of January during the dance of the mystical sky maidens. :rolleyes:

This country is prepared for snow; it has all the right equipment, experience and manpower. The problem is that nobody seems to do anything about it when the occasion arrises. Case in point: last week snow was predicted several days in advance, so I kept an eye on the local gritting bins and expected to see gritters doing their rounds shortly. But...nothing on Thursday. Nothing on Friday. Nothing on Saturday. Snow arrives on Sunday; still no gritting. Snow pelting down on Monday; still no gritting.

See the problem?

And this is only light snow; we're not talking about fullscale blizzards or snowdrifts!
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Rubbish, when was the last time an entire county (Surrey in this case) had to close down every single school because of snow (btw, they close schools in America too for snow)? It has certainly never snowed as hard as this in the South East of England while I've been down here (10+ years). We're talking about 4 inches of snow on the road in certain parts near where I live - that is pretty exceptional here.

Oh, and I saw a gritter out too, but gritting won't magically make all the snow disappear, it relies on other factors too - e.g. the infamous standstill at Stanstead was caused because gritters couldn't grit the motorway because of traffic.
 
NathanE said:
The UK is probably the hardest working in Europe. We have fewest national holidays and it's only recently that the EU has started trying to balance things out for us by introducing more compulsory holiday days (25 minimum now).
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No.

A 2007 survey carried out on hours of work across Europe show that we don't work the "most"

The average hours are 42.1 for Full time workers in England.
In the Netherlands its 46.
However around 42 is about the average working hours of Full time workers across european countries.
 
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if we had snow regularly we would be much more prepared to deal with it.

for some it might be an excuse not to go to work but for many if there are no trains or buses how are they meant to get to work

they are also talking of another round of snow this afternoon that might be heavier than the last one, so what happens if people get to work but then are stranded and cant get home again..
 
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