Gritters grip

[Dave Liquorice]

weather"

Where have you been checking? There are some diabolically awful "forecasts" that it would be a waste of a bullet to shoot. Many are automated with no sanity checking, some imply a far greater geographic relevance than is really there. Plug our postcode into some and you get a forecast, but it's based on Carlisle Airport, 20+ miles away and 1400' lower!

These aren't the "weather products" that the councils (should!) be using to predict the gritting requirement. Not only do they take forecasts/warnings from the Met Office etc any decent coucil also has it own network of sensors that give actual road surface temps etc.

[Dave Liquorice]

2 foot of snow would most normal 4x4s. So without a plough blade or digger it's out with the shovel. Digging through a 2' bank of snow even just taking the top foot off to allow the 4x4 through will be hard work and *very* slow.

You can get plough blades to go on the front of Defenders but I doubt they would deal with much more than a foot. You just need to much force to shift deep snow.

[Harry Bloomfield]

That would be the BMW drivers, rather than the BMW RWD cars.

[Owain]

They take the gritters home with them the night before.

Owain

[The Medway Handyman]

Wonder if the Tax Man claims thats a perk & taxes the buggers?

[ARWadsworth]

There was a good scandal in the local rag a few years ago when a gritter diverted from it's route and gritted a rather large pub car park in return for a few beer tokens for the lads.

They were seen by a nosey councillor and reported.

Adam

[Mike]

Well I worked for 5yrs for a Council ... and drove the gritters .. never once was anyone allowed to take one home !!

I think Steve W was perhaps was just making a suggestion.

As far as getting to the depot was concerned .. as Dave L says, the forecasting was pretty accurate and communications with areas upwind, kept us informed of exactly where the snow was and how fast it was approaching.

Mike P

[Dave]

Nice to see you posting, how are you feeling?

Try telling that to our local and county councils. Roads that look OK are like black ice when you try to brake on them. I have had three panic attacks this week on braking on what looked like salted roads, to find that they were very slippy and it was not black ice either.

Dave

[Dave]

How will that make the roads less slippy?

Dave

[Dave]

Where do you get your grit/salt from?

Dave

[Owain]

If they're not allowed to use the vehicle for personal use, and they don't use it for commuting (from home to place of work) then it shouldn't be taxable.

Owain

[Andy Champ]

I left my MR2 (mid engine, semi track tyres, cold engine tickover at

2000 RPM, known for snap oversteer) at home and took my wife's little FWD 1.0 "shopping trolley". _much_ easier to drive. But TBH it was all the other idiots that really caused me trouble.

Andy

[Colin Wilson]

Maybe they were running out of grit and were trying to get out the last scrapings :-p

[Owain]

I think it was me rather than Mr W, and I refer to this article about Highland Council:

Mr Guest said: "Some of our gritters take their lorries home with them at night so that they don't get stranded the next morning."

[Steve Walker]

I've checked on a number of different sites and they've all said pretty much the same. As I'm fairly close to both Manchester Airport and Woodford Aerodrome and everything is pretty flat around here, you'd expect forecasts for this area to be pretty reliable.

SteveW

[The Medway Handyman]

But if they take the gritter home - as has been suggested - that would be commuting from home to work.

The bastard tax man will always try & get his hand in someones pocket.

[dennis]

BMWs appear to have more trouble than any other car front or four wheel drive. I expect its the drivers rather than the cars.

One of the doctors at my wife's practice has a BMW, I have driven up and down the drive several times today without trouble but she just can't drive her BMW up the drive. I have done it in front wheel and rear wheel drive cars today with no problems.

I have got stuck on a car park in a smart car today, just wouldn't go without sliding. Its impossible to select anything other than first/reverse to start off which makes it very hard to control on ice. The automatic clutch makes it even worse BTW.

[dennis]

8<

It makes it easier to go too fast. They are generally heavier too so take longer to stop on ice.

[Jules]

Yes, hence the 'pretty much' - but that much snow is reasonably uncommon in the UK, though (although it sounds like it's getting close in places - but it'd also have to be 2' of snowfall since the last plough/grit run, and I'd expect them to be doing passes pretty frequently)

It's possibly one of those 'depends on the type of snow' things.

My brother-in-law had a plough blade on one of his trucks and it'd cope with a couple of feet no problem (and heck was it fun to drive ;) - it had a hydraulic tilt / lift on it, so the trick was to take the top 18" or so off in one pass and then go back to tidy up.

One of our neighbours ploughs our driveway out for us these days - he's got a 4x4 quad bike with a blade on it, and even that's coped happily with a foot and a half on a few occasions (very low pressure tyres with some serious tread on them).

cheers

Jules

[Frank Erskine]

Only to a _regular_ place of work, such as a factory, office etc. If his place of work varies then the 'commuting' bit doesn't apply.